The Labyrinth
by Gus Kinney The Prodigal Son
Summary: The cat prince Adrian is to be given to Sebastian how will the prince take this
1. BAD NEWS!

The Labyrinth

Gus Kinney: Hello everyone i'm back with another Black Butler story the name of this is read the title but this will not be the movie i just take some things from the movie and add that to a Black Butler one so now that i got that out of the way here is chapter one for all of you to read i call this chapter BAD NEWS!

Being the second born really did have its perks. I didn't have to worry about getting the throne or living up to any of high standards that were set for my eldest brother. I had free reign of our kingdom. It may not have been the biggest or the nicest...well I knew it wasn't either of those things, but it was home I suppose. Every chance I got I would travel to the other more interesting kingdoms that surrounded us. Which was often thankfully since my parents were trying to marry my brother and I off. My brother would sooner find a wife than I. I had taken a lot of enjoyment in purposely ruining several interviews just because my 'bride' wasn't pretty enough. If I was going to be forced to do this I wanted to at least have something nice to look at.

A frustrated sigh escaped me as my horse walked across the bridge leading into the capitol. My family had arrived back hours ahead of me since I had decided to take a much slower pace on our return trip. Coming back home was always so much harder than leaving was. I had grown up contained in these walls, I didn't want to spend any more time than necessary in them. I supposed that was another reason I kept ruining so many proposals, all the kingdoms were too close. If my parents wanted to arrange a political marriage, the least they could have done was expand their horizons across the sea. I couldn't remember the last time I had a proper adventure across the ocean. The main reason was because my brother didn't like ships. It would have been nice to come across vendors who didn't hide things when I came around, or have some new people to reap havoc with. Most of my old gang had been strategically shipped off or given a 'special' place in the kings royal army. My father wanted to get rid of any possible distractions but to do that he'd have to do a lot more than get rid of my... convenient acquaintances.

In order to avoid riding through the busy main streets, I took a few short cuts through back roads, which added consequently took longer. Not that I minded, the longer the route the better. If my latest keeper hadn't managed to find me I might have taken a few more laps around the city before thinking about returning to the palace. "My prince there you are! You parents have been looking for you?"

I peered down at him as he took my reigns from me and sighed, "What do they want now? I'm busy?"

"I don't know, they just told me to find you and bring you back at once."

He started to lead my horse back towards the palace gates, but I slid off the saddle and folded my arms over my chest. He sighed and stopped. "Please, I need this job."

"That's really not my problem, I'm not going back unless I know what I'm needed for."

"It's not my place to-

He jumped when I took a step forward and dropped the reins, shielding his face as if I was going to hit him. Violence never really occurred to me with this one, he was already so meek and submissive that I could bend him to do my bidding with a simple look. And in turn, he wouldn't last long. It had been two weeks and I had already gotten away with thrice as much 'un-princely' activity as I had gotten away with when my father put one of his guards in charge of keeping me in line.

The alley wasn't wide enough for him to turn my horse around, so I could have probably evaded him with ease if I wanted. At the moment it was more of a debate of whether I wanted to be lectured by my father when I tried sneaking back into the castle, or listen to what they had to say then sneak out of the castle. In my years I had come to realize I was much better at the latter. "Fine, lets get this over with."

I made my way in front of him and led the way back to the castle, taking care to include few detours. My babysitter seemed more than eager to bring my horse to the stables while I crossed the courtyard and entered the throne room. Much to my surprise it was empty. Most of the time when my parents summoned me they felt the need to do it some place public so the whole castle could know how displeased they were with me. However it wasn't anything new. I could be sitting in the drawing room and they'd yell at me for breathing too loudly.

I ducked out of one of the side doors and headed up to the drawing room. _This better not take all afternoon, I have much better things to do than sit through another tedious marriage interview._ A nicer thought was my brother getting married so they could focus on his wedding instead of mine, because at this point I was surprised marriage was still on the table for me. _Who in their right mind wants to settle down with someone for the rest of their lives? It's one of the stupidest ideas to have ever been come up with and I want no part._

My parents stopped arguing with one another the moment the doors opened and I knew I had done something particularly horrible this time. Or they _thought_ I had. They normally didn't stop just because I was there. My mother seemed exasperated and my father seemed to have this odd triumphant look on his face that made me question why I was here. I didn't even bother opening with an apology and saying 'it would never happen again'. That was too... easy. "What brings you to call upon me so early in the day? Did some family heirloom go missing again?"

My mother's hazel eyes narrowed but she didn't speak and looked to my father. He must have asserted himself into the speaking role this time. As far as I was concerned she didn't even want a part in this. "Since you seem to think marriage is a joke."

"Which it is, you two aren't exactly role models of a perfect relationship."

My father ignored my outburst and leaned forwards in his chair. I took a few steps forward and smirked, folding my arms over my chest. _Don't tell me he's at it again._ "As I was saying, since you think this is a joke, I've made an arrangement you can't get out of."

I rolled my eyes. He doubted my determination in such things. Any binding things always had a loophole. There was _always_ one, it just took the right amount of wit to find it. I was not lacking in that department, so finding it would be a piece of cake. "As you may know we've had trouble with the dark forced attacking us unprovoked and it would be quite unwise to declare war on them. In exchange for a peace treaty, you shall be going to their highest ranking demon as a sign of gratitude."

"That's the stupidest idea I've heard today, I'm not doing it."

"You don't have a choice, the arrangements have already been made."

"The hell I don't! You can't sell me like some whore! I won't do it." Storming out of the room, I made sure to slam the door behind me and slipped out the castle once more. Who the hell did he think he was? I wasn't some worthless girl. I was his son. Yes, I may not have been on my best behavior, but what was the point. My brother had the throne and I was clearly just something to be seen and not heard. But I wouldn't allow myself to have been reduced to this. Maybe if I was a girl this would have been so surprising, but what sort of king jut sells off his son? If he wanted an alliance wouldn't they rather have my brother? He was the one next in line not me? Why did he have to get me involved in his stupid plans. _I'm not going through with it. I refuse. I'll run away before I let myself be sold off like a piece of unwanted property._

_Gus Kinney: I hope you like chapter one see you for chapter two _


	2. Why do i do anything

Gus Kinney: Hello i'm back with chapter two it took me and my beta three rewrite's to get this chapter to be the way we wanted it now we are happy and so here it is chapter 3 and it is called why do i do anything

I still don't know why i agreed to this in the first place. I kept telling myself that it was for the sake of Pyros and Draco, but that wasn't entirely true. I thought they could have benefited from some contact with others, but at the same time they might have just wound up reverting to their urges aligned with being a human. Maybe I was becoming soft from spending so much time in this world, but i almost felt bad for him. I tried to rationalize things by telling myself it had been awhile since I went through the trouble of forming a contract with a human. Dozens have tried summoning me, however all their offers were...mediocre at best and I refused to accept subpar payment for my services. Not to mention the fact that their souls were less than appetizing. Adrian had potential, and if he was guided onto the right path I might have been able to make a decent meal out of him. Without all those petty distractions humans found in one another, the task seemed a lot more easier than I had originally anticipated.

There was still the matter of getting the castle mostly human proof before Adrian arrived. Several animals needed to be banished to their respective dimensions and the dark hallways were slowly being lined with torches for light. Even with most of the window coverings taken off the castle remained quite dark. Last time I checked, humans couldn't see or navigate very well in the dark. Instead of going through the trouble of cleaning up most of the unused rooms I decided to seal most of them off. However I had yet to decide which room would be the safest for him. Even if there weren't that many of us taking up a semi-permanent residence here, my kind were always coming and going and some of them wouldn't leave my toys alone. Even if I put my mark on him some would feel the need to test my patience on the subject more than others.

Ebony came out of her current hiding place and circled my legs purring until I took her into my arms. She always was the most affectionate out of all my pets, without being overly clingy that dog I allowed Pyros to keep. Although it was easily excitable and not aware of it's large size so for the time being it would have to be kept some place as well. Maybe now I could finally visit my outside cats without having to worry about the big oaf scaring them off. Although there wasn't any way to get rid of the gargoyles so Adrian would have to be kept inside at night. Him getting whisked away in the night by them in the night wouldn't be pleasant for either one of us to deal with. If the boy had any common sense he wouldn't want to be out there at night anyway.

Draco came out of the library as I passed by and Ebony quickly sought her escape, she had issues with snakes and preferred to keep her distance from him. "My basilisk is with my father and I just finished dusting the library, is there anything else you want me to do?"

I watched her go and sighed before redirecting my attention to him. "Good, what about the kitchen?"

Draco shifted uncomfortably and his green eyes darted towards the floor. "Pyros is taking care of it, he's better at dealing with people than I am."

He brushed back some of his white hair and looked up at me. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Did we ever fix the roof to the tower?" The tower was probably the safest place for Adrian. It was out of the way and safe. I doubted somebody would just casually stumble across him up there unless they were purposely snooping around for something they weren't supposed to have in the first place.

"I think so, Pyros was in charge of that too. Are you going to put Adrian in there?"

"Yes, thank you, that will be all." He dipped his head and closed the door to the library back before heading down the hall. At least he seemed to have fewer qualms about this than Pyros. Then again Draco probably would have spent most of his time avoiding out new guest instead of going out of his way to make more friends. If he wasn't half human I was positive he could ascend the ranks in no time...so long as he didn't get too attached to someone again. Thinks had a tendency of not working out for him for various reasons. Yet he kept at it. I couldn't begin to understand why he tried so hard, but there wouldn't be a point in asking; he wouldn't tell me.

I should go see what sort of shape the tower is in before checking on Pyros. The idea of cleaning up the tower was more pleasurable than dealing with him right now. I had a sinking feeling he had no idea what he was doing and accepted the job to be useful. Sometimes I found myself wondering how he lasted as long as he had when he was human.

I pretended not to notice Precious stalking me as I passed by her room and continued on towards the tower. She must have been in a good mood otherwise she wouldn't have even bothered with me… then again getting rid of that dog was enough to put me in a good mood. She followed me up the winding stairs and I made a mental note to replace some of the torches that lined the wall. The windows would also need to be cleaned since the sunlight struggled to penetrate a thin layer of dust that covered the glass.

The wooden door swung open on creaky hinges to reveal the long unoccupied room inside. A layer of dust coated the floor so footprints trailed along behind me as I removed the boards covering the windows. A small crack had formed in one of them, but it wasn't anything that couldn't have been easily fixed before Adrian got here.

Precious pounced on me from behind and playfully bit my shoulder. Her tail twitched in excitement as I wormed my way out from under her. I rubbed the sides of her face and smirked, "you really pick the best time to come play."

She huffed and placed her large paws on my shoulders, peering over the top of my head to look out the now uncovered window. She growled softly but made no move to bite me when I took one of paws and played with it. I could help myself they were soft and then she'd sometimes dig her claws into my hand and start playing again. Cats were truly marvelous creatures, so dangerous yet they possessed child-like curiosity… and a strange fascination with crates and chests that I could never fully understand.

Precious pulled her paw away and batted the top of me head before climbing off my lap and flopping down in a sunny spot on the floor. She swiped her pink tongue across her tail a few times and watched as I removed the curtains from the windows. They were better off being replaced entirely since moths had chewed holes in them. There was also the face the the sound of ripping fabric behind me meant Precious had decided to sharpen her claws on them. "Don't get too comfortable in here."

She flopped over when I approached and tackled me to the ground again, nipping at my shoulder and arm. I used my free hand to pet the soft fur under her chin and smiled when she licked my hand. She decided to cut playtime short and wandered off. I don't know where she planned on going, but I suppose now was as good of a time as ever to check on Pyros' progress. I hadn't heard anything from him all morning so it either meant he was actually getting something done, or he was trying to make it seem like he was getting something done.

On the way through I pulled the boards off of several more windows as I passed. I hadn't quite realized just how dark it actually was in here until natural light was filtering in through the windows like it had never been gone in the first place. Although up until a couple months ago I never spent any extended amount of time here, so I supposed there was no reason to notice. Ebony seemed happy for the new place to lounge because she immediately jumped into one of the windowsills and peered outside. Time had proven she was a strictly indoor cat, but she seemed to take a large amount of enjoyment in watching the crows outside fly about and occasionally bicker with one another. She hardly noticed me scratch behind her ears before I continued down the hallway.

Something crashed to the floor moments before I opened the door and I walked in to find Pyros sitting in the fire pit staring up the flue. The cauldron nearby was a dark red color, meaning he must have worked himself up over something. He better not set anything on fire, I might be tempted to dump some water on him. "What are you doing?"

He jumped and sat up, covered in soot and dust. "Something isn't working. Can't snake boy do this because I've been trying all morning to fix this damn thing and it isn't working."

I sighed and picked my way across the room. Everything from silverware to cleaning buckets were spread out across the room, implying he had been jumping back and forth from task to task. Stopping to clean then going back to making a mess seemed counter productive, but then again it was probably all that was keeping him from burning down the kitchen… or worse. He may have kept his powers in check most of the time, but his very short fuse didn't help him. Maybe if he wasn't so easily agitated he would have so many accidents. The cauldron quickly returned to it's normal color as he moved to the side. "That metal piece is supposed to hook onto this metal piece to open it but it's not working and I've had enough with it."

After a few minutes I easily fixed the flue and brushed the soot off my hands. Pyros' ruddy face turned bright red and he laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his neck. "I should have known it would have been that easy."

"What's all this?"

He slowly got to his feet then looked around. "Well I started cleaning the cabinets, then decided I'd get Draco to help after i had unpacked everything then went to fix the flue."

After a deep breath I brushed back some of my hair. "Then shouldn't you have asked him to come help before you started messing around with that." His nervous smile quickly faded as if the thoughts hadn't occurred to him and he stared down at the floor not saying anything. Hasn't he learned anything? Does he not understand multi-tasking? "And what about Pluto?"

"He's taken care of. I did that this morning before I came in here, he didn't seem to happy about it though."

He's the only one… "Yes well he's destructive and I don't need him setting out guest on fire. Which you can use to fix the window in the tower. You can manage that can't you."

He nodded vigorously. ""course I can, that's easy. You're gonna put him in the tower?"

"Why not?"

He shrugged and bit his bottom lip. I retrieved Milo from the cabinet when he mewed for me and rested him on my shoulder, giving Pyros time to collect his thoughts. Milo purred and rubbed his face against mine. He so cute. He always like riding on my shoulder and wasn't as boisterous as the other two. Although he got into more things he wasn't supposed to have and I always found him in the strangest places. One time I had to fish him out of the wall because he decided to go exploring.I held him in front of my and chided, "Don't go back in the cabinets, you'll get stuck up there and we're trying to clean. You have plenty of other places to hide." He licked my nose in understanding and  
I smiled, putting him back on my shoulder.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean…what's the point?"

"Why do I do anything? I'm bored, and this seems like fun. From what I've seen the boy needs some adventure and at the rate he's going his father would sooner ship him off to war to be killed. We can't have that can we?" Milo leaps from my shoulder to the table and mewed in agreement before trying to jump onto the other counter and subsequently return to his perch in the cabinet. I caught him mid-air and turned for the door. "Go fix the window and I'll go tell Draco to get started in here. We've got a lot of work to get done before our guest arrives."

Gus Kinney: So there was chapter 2 me and my beta will work on chapter 3 see you later


	3. I'm a fighter

Gus Kinney: Hello everybody out there who is reading this story this story is going by fast huh lol but anyway here is the next chapter in the story chapter 3 and i call this one i'm a fighter

"Adrian, you have to get up right now. You were supposed to be on the road hours ago. At this rate you won't be there until after nightfall."

Stretching my shoulders, I rolled over onto my back and studied my latest servant. His eyes quickly darted to the floor and he fidgeted nervously. It was obvious I was more of a threat than my father at the current moment. "I don't really have to do anything. I choose to do things and I'm staying in bed."

He sighed and clawed at straws. I wasn't in the mood to be cooperative, and I was fully prepared to express that. "Please, your father said he'd have his guards drag you out of bed if you didn't cooperate. He was very insistent."

"My father says a lot of things but at the end of the day he does nothing. I'm not going. He can't make me."

Apparently he wasn't about to argue with me, since he simply left, but I knew better than to think this was the end. I slid to the floor and quickly began to dress. While he was off getting my father, I would be out the door and tucked away safely in one of my numerous hiding spots. The guards hadn't even found half of them, and if I timed things right I should have been able to slip out of the city unnoticed for awhile. My father would look like a fool for having lost me and by time I resurfaced this demon will have lost all interest in me. At least, I hoped he would. Generally when a prince goes missing it means they are being held for ransom and when no note shows up they could all assume the worst. I would be a free man and my father would have an army of demons at his front door.

The door flew open the second I put my hands on my sword and my father barged in with one of his guards following. "So you are awake! I knew you would come to see things my way."

I bit back a response and kept my back towards him. Attaching my sword to my belt was far more interesting than listening to him gloat about getting rid of his second heir. Of course he couldn't just send me to war. I might have come back alive and highly decorated, then he would never be able to get rid of me. "I haven't, I have things to do and being sold like a whore isn't in those plans."

"Nonsense, there's nothing more important than this."

I rolled my eyes and did the last few buttons on my shirt before turning. "That's not my problem now is it. It's yours. If you do this you'll be killed. The town is already talking about how your a devil worshiper and with all those sons you have tucked away, one of them could easily lay claim to the throne."

My father ignored me and forcibly steered me out of my room by my shoulders. Sighing, I ducked under his arms and headed towards the kitchen instead of the front gate. "I'm not leaving without a proper meal. You barge in with not respect for my sleeping schedule and now I'm hungry."

Strong arms pulled me back and I tried to fall to the ground in protest, but I was only picked up instead. "You can eat on the road."

"Dammit put me down! I can walk on my own!" I squirmed around and twisted as much as I possibly could to get him to drop me but it didn't work. Maybe is he just had fabric instead of my arm I would have been able to free myself. This wouldn't have been the first time this happened, but my father's guards finally seemed to be learning.

"You are a grown man, stop embarrassing yourself."

"Apparently my father doesn't think so! When he stops treating me like a child I'll stop acting like one." As soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I slipped to the bottom of the stairs and set a brisk pace for the kitchen. I could remain composed for that long. I was too groggy for all this. I just woke up and my father expected me to go on a journey. The carriage could, wait, I wanted food. My father's guard grabbed my collar and dragged me towards the courtyard. "Your mother already packed your lunch and the King will be sending over the rest of your things in a week. No excuses you're leaving now."

Lucas is going to kill me when he finds out I left without telling him. The topic slipped my mind last night over dinner… I guess not telling was the best parting. I intended on coming back. Maybe not right away, but I would definitely be back.

I climbed into my carriage and closed the door back while my father's guard mounted his horse. Great, I can't even go there on my own. What? Does my father really think I'm stupid enough to jump out of a moving carriage?

Once the busy streets of the capitol faded away, we passed through the trading port before heading farther inland. I never realized how dreary the landscape around here was until now. There wasn't anything but pastures and forests. Laying down on my side, I sighed in the empty space and closed my eyes. If I had to be inconvenienced like this I might as well catch up on my sleep.

Everybody here is so annoying. If I have to hear 'where's your brother' one more time I am going to choke someone. I couldn't even be focused on for ten minutes and this was my party. I hadn't wanted it in the first place, but my father planned it without me. So I invited all my comrades from the streets. They stuck out like sore thumbs and the guards were keeping a close eye on all of them, but it was still fun. And it was nice to know they were getting a decent meal. They were my family and as such it was my job to steal money from my father to give to them, and do things like this to irritate him. If I couldn't be happy he sure as hell didn't deserve to be.

A frustrated sigh escaped me as another pack of girls years older than me came over, whispering and giggling amongst one another. Where did Lucas go? I thought he was getting wine. "Happy birthday, Prince Adrian." I nodded slightly and folded my arms over my chest. Now they were going to ask what they really wanted to. "I haven't seen your brother, do you know where he is."

"He's dead. I ran him through after-

I was cut off my a hand covering my mouth and looked back to find my brother standing behind me, beaming as if he had done this before. The shocked looks on their faces quickly turned to amazement as he stole the spotlight yet again, "Nonsense, I'm quite well actually. My brother likes causing trouble."

I tried pulling his arm away but when it didn't move I bit him. He jumped and pulled his hand away, examining the marks on his hand. The girls glared at me and one of them said, "thats horrid, why would you do that?"

"I don't remember inviting any of you. I don't like any of you and the fact that you think you have a chance to be queen is pathetic." I caught Lucas flailing his arms on the balcony nearby and slipped off. It was irritating to see how many people avoided me, but I suppose I shouldn't have been all that surprised. Sometimes I wished I actually was one of my father's bastards. They got put up in fancy houses out in the country-side in case something happened to my brother and I and they didn't have to put up with this.

I took the bottle Lucas shoved into my hands and took a few sips. "Where'd you steal this from?"

"I can't help myself sometimes. Besides that's a secret, otherwise you might spend your days drinking instead of bailing' me out of trouble."

He winked and I rolled my eyes, looking at the sea of obnoxiously bright colors below me. If I wanted to I could spot my brother by the group of girls clinging to him. "Women are so pathetic."

Lucas followed my line of sight and patted me on the back. "Y'see, they like a pretty face and a big-

I elbowed him in the stomach to cut him off. There was no way he was allowed to travel down this path. I wouldn't let him. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

He took another swig from his half-empty bottle then dropped it to his brother below. "I will when you." He leaned back suddenly and stood. "Hold that thought."

I shook my head and went back to watching the party. "Don't steal anything unless you bring me with you." He didn't respond and I resumed drinking. It couldn't have been long until I felt better...then again I didn't know my limits so with my luck I'd pass out here before getting back to where I should have been. I hope I do pass out. Then my father will have to explain letting his son get drunk.

I flopped backwards and gazed up at the curved ceiling. All the candles in the chandelier blurred together until all that was left was a ball of light floating there. It must have been the most beautiful thing I had seen all day. I thought I caught some movement in the shadows and looked over. Is that a bird? Lucas flopped down on top of me and I jumped, briefly forgetting how to breathe. He grabbed the bottle from me after I shoved him off and sat up. "What the hell? Don't do that!"

He giggled and waved his brother over, before dropping the bottle to him and dragging me off the ground. "I think your father's finally lost it. C'mon you've got to hear this."

"What are you talking about?"

He giggled and grabbed both my hands, dragging me forward at a brisk pace. "You'll see when you get there! But I think he's trying to get you a wife."

"Is he insane!"

He shushed me and giggled again. "I can get my brother's wife to say she's carrying your child."

I snorted and joined him in hysterical laughter, eventually winded myself to the point of having to use him as support. Was my father stupid? My brother wasn't even engaged yet and he was worried about me getting married? He was first in line, it didn't matter if I ever got married as long as he didn't get himself killed. We fell into shushing each other as Lucas led the way down the hall towards my father's study. It took some effort from the both of us, but we fell silent and peered through the crack in the door. I flopped to the floor and Lucas stood over me, seeming proud that he had led me here.

Some tall guy in black was standing with his back to the door, but he sounded bored while my father droned on. I couldn't blame him. My father had this pompous way of droning on that made me want to throw something at his head. "...you shall find him a very suitable companion."

Lucas jumped when a bird suddenly tapped on the window, and fluttered its wings. The man in black wandered over and flipped the latch, welcoming the small beast to rest on his shoulder. Despite having never seen before he commanded the space like it belonged to him. He scares me, why on earth would my father be making plans with him? A chill ran through me when I caught sight of his pink eyes and I felt my heart stop when they met my own. I pulled away from the door for a moment, thinking he had seen me. "Oi, watch it."

I shook my head and peered up at Lucas, smiling apologetically. "You seem quite eager to get rid of one so young, he couldn't possibly be that much trouble."

I wrapped my arms around me to fend off the sudden coldness I felt creeping across me. Despite the lit candle the room seemed to darken significantly. "It's not trouble so much as an agreement. For some reason my son is unhappy here. He needs some excitement, perhaps he'll find it if you take him under your wing."

The man pet his bird and chuckled to himself as if he had picked up on some joke. Why is he getting rid of my brother? Did he do something wrong? "I'll never fully understand why you humans think you are so much more clever than we are. Your entire life span is less than a blink of an eye for me."

"Where'd he pick this nut job up?"

I shrugged and ignored Lucas' steady gaze. This whole thing made me uncomfortable. For once I didn't want to know what my father was planning. My father didn't respond, and tensed up. "Is that a no?"

"I don't want someone who's going to put up a fight, it's a pain. Is this boy going to come willingly?"

"Adrian can be stubborn but he'll do anything if he thinks its a trip."

Lucas fell backwards when I shoved the door open and darted off down the hallway, not wanting to get involved. "I won't go you can't make me!"

My father's eyes widened and he rushed to throw me out. "Adrian go back to your party, the adults are talking."

"No! I'm thirteen now, you can't tell me what to do. I won't go!" I froze when the man in black laid eyes on me and stumbled backwards. After a few seconds of staring awkwardly at one another, I slowly stood and ran after Lucas.

I started awake when the carriage stopped and nearly fell off the seat. I could hardly see the door in front of me and wondered how I managed to sleep the afternoon away. Long carriage rides always made me sleepy, but things were never this bad. I can't believe he tried this before. I didn't know what was worse, the fact that he tried getting away with this again or that it was actually happening this time. Maybe I should have payed more attention to what he was doing lately. All I have been hearing about is war and some government officials being killed. I could only hear so much of it before I got frustrated and gave up. Politics weren't my strong suit. I much preferred combat, I was much better at it than my brother. Spending so much times on the streets only honed my craft. While my brother was off learning how to talk and sit properly I was learning real skills. I guess that's when my father must have first gotten the idea to get rid of me.

I must have gone through dozens of tutors and nannies before he gave up and let me do what i wanted but now. Now that I could actually buy passage anywhere without being questioned he was getting nervous. I spent a week away from home without telling anyone and when I showed up my father struck me because he was so overwhelmed. I then promptly spent the weekend with Lucas only to end up being dragged homed by one of the guards after fighting. My black eye and bloodied knuckles didn't go down well with either one of my parents despite it not being mine. I suppose someone treating a royal like a human being was unacceptable.

I slowly rose and climbed out. A large castle loomed ahead of me, surrounded by a thick forest. It was like we had been transported into another world. I grabbed the small bag that had been packed for my off the seat and closed the door back. "Your father will write letters to check up on you."

I rolled my eyes and took a hesitant step towards the front gates. I don't like this...how can he be so calm. "Tell him not to bother, I won't read them." The carriage slowly rolled down the drive and I realized how alone I was out here. I didn't know if I was being paranoid or something, but I felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees in the past few minutes. I want to go home… anything is better than this.

I jumped where there was a sudden light behind me and whipped around, resting my hand on my sword. "Calm down, I'm just trying to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Sebastian sent me to get you."

He couldn't come get me himself? "Well that's an understatement. I don't think he knows you're here yet he's currently… busy."

The tall boy ushered me towards the front door before I could protest. I didn't want to go in there. There wasn't anything I could do to stop him. What choice did I really have?

I rubbed my arm and walked on my own as he shoved open the front door. Inside felt even worse. I could hardly see the floor beneath my feet. The chandelier above suddenly lit up along with the torches along the wall and I found myself standing in a very empty throne room. An orange cat tried climbing up my leg and meowed loudly when I held him away at arms length. "I don't have anything for you."

He meowed again his ears flicked towards a side room before he started squirming around and I released him. The room darkened briefly as a face I knew all too well made an appearance. "Welcome Adrian, it's been awhile."

I took few steps back in a desperate attempt to keep him away from but I backed into the boy from before instead. "It's not like I had a choice." I'd take a hundred copies of this gloomy place if I didn't have to deal with him. I don't like this. Not at all...

Gus Kinney: what will happen will Adrian be ok or does our favorite demon have something in store for out prince find out next time in chapter 4 damn we are already going to chapter 4 this feels weird


	4. Home?

Gus Kinney: hello everyone to the next chapter of the labyrinth now we are getting to work on chapter 5 soon so yeah this one is going fast its so damn crazy lol but anyway here is chapter 4 and i call this one Home?

Why does he keep staring at me like that? It's weird. The boy behind me sighed then cleared his throat in hopes of getting Sebastian's attention. "Don't you think Adrian would like to see his room?"

"Perhaps." The orange cat in his arms grew frustrated with the lack of attention it was getting and climbed onto Sebastian's head. However he still paid it no mind as it flopped forward and batted his nose with it's paw.

Sebastian took a few steps forward to close the space between us, but the boy standing almost directly behind me prevented any backwards movement, leaving me trapped. I flinched when he draped one of his arms around my shoulder and pulled me forwards. I turned in attempts to free myself but he pulled me against his chest and pinned me there. "Pyros look, isn't he the most beautiful creature you've ever seen."

My face grew hot when he started rubbing one of my ears and I tried squirming out of his grasp. What the hell did he think he was doing? Who just goes up to someone and starts petting them? Damn him. And why is he talking about me like I'm not standing right here. A low growl escaped me when he commented on how soft my hair was an I could feel my tail twitch in irritation from where it was tucked beneath my shirt. This isn't going to work. I want to go home.

Pyros sighed and ran his fingers through his orange hair and they continued to speak as if I wasn't standing right there. "You're going to make him mad. He might bite you."

I had always put myself above biting people. Plus I didn't know how clean they were so I wasn't about to get sick because I bit someone. Clawing on the other hand… Sebastian ignored him. "It wouldn't be the first time such a magnificent creature did so. I should have taken him sooner."

"He looks tired."

Sebastian's cat leaps to the floor as he tipped my head back to get a good look at my face. He sighed softly, but didn't object. "I supposed, it has been a long journey."

I nodded and slipped under his arm. I didn't want him anywhere within reaching distance. I was very particular about my personal space and he had just waltz on into it and seemed to have every intention of doing it again. I didn't even let Lucas touch my ears. After all that had happened I found myself more irritated than tired and followed Sebastian with new found energy. "I'm curious, just what did you do your father to make him so eager to get rid of you?"

I shrugged and paused thoughtfully. I suppose after a certain point in time, constantly being compared to my brother was becoming a hassle and I purposely did the opposite of what everybody wanted me too. I told myself I was going to stop at some point, but then I realized I actually liked spending so much time away from the castle and living on the streets so I didn't. Doing what i liked had cut out a lot of frustration for me...just not for my parents. "He doesn't like the people I prefer to spend my time with."

I shifted the strap to my back so it was higher on my shoulder and continued to follow along behind him. Sebastian didn't seem entirely satisfied with my answer, but he didn't press the subject. It was strange really. Normally something so vague or minimal would get at least a few follow up questions for me to ignore. I suppose he didn't really have any reason to be overly protective. Maybe this could work out...as long as he didn't start petting me again. This guy having a thing for cats didn't excuse that...and it was weird.

Sebastian paused and took my bag from me before continuing at a slower pace. As he navigated the gloomy hallways he didn't seem to bother much with pointing out where places were, but it might have been easier to do that at a later time. Sebastian paused a few times to say hi to his feline friends, but other than that i didn't see anybody else here. "Does anybody else live here?"

"It's just the three of us, but you probably won't meet the third member to our party anytime soon so don't worry about it."

I nodded absent minded and peered out one of the small windows in the winding stair case, not that there was anything to see. Thick trees spanned as far as I could see and for the first time i was forced to come to terms with just how far away this place was from anything. I felt like I could get lost just looking outside. "Before I forget, you shouldn't go outside at night and stay out of the dungeon. It's best for your safety." I nodded again. I didn't think I would spend any time outside during the day let alone at night, and the dungeon was the last place I'd want to go in a place like this.

The wooden door at the top of the stairs was slightly ajar, but Sebastian seemed to not notice as he pushed it open. Sebastian place my bag nearby and folded his arms over his chest. "Precious what did I tell you, this room is not for you."

The strangely colored tiger that was sprawled out on the bed stopped chewing on a pillow and studied Sebastian. He brushed back some of his hair as he moved to stand at the foot of the bed and the cat prepared to pounce. I took a step back in hopes of staying clear of whatever was about to unfold and looked on as the tiger tackled Sebastian to the floor.

It's deep purrs echoed around the room as it playfully bit Sebastian, who seemed please with the display. He rubbed the tigers neck as it chewed on him. A few minutes passed before it flopped down on his chest and licked its paw. Sebastian peered back and me and smiled, running his fingers though the tigers honey colored fur. It's amber eyes would occasionally dart towards me, but it showed no signs of approaching. He has a tiger too? "Don't mind her she doesn't bite much. Although I can't give you any promises that she'll stay out of here." Sebastian rubbed the sides of her face with his hands and gazed into her eyes lovingly. "She's a spoiled little brat who gets what ever she wants."

Precious nipped his nose before jumping up and climbing back onto the bed. She went back to tearing up the pillow and Sebastian slowly rose from where he was sprawled out on the floor. "I'll get you some more pillows before bed."

"It's fine, I don't really use them."

He brushed some fur off the front of his shirt before gazing expectantly at me and asking, "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

There wasn't really anything for me to want. This was a lot smaller than my room at home so it would seem nearly as empty with my things out away. I might even come to enjoy spending time in here since there were always other places to go. Precious also seemed determined to come and go as she pleased so maybe I'd get lucky and she'd sleep up here with me. At most I might have needed another blanket, but I figured I'd wait to see how tonight went before making that assumption. "No, thank you. Everything is perfect."

Sebastian nodded, the faint smile never fading. As sincere as it seemed, I felt as if he had mastered fake smiles. There was no way he was actually this chipper. I wouldn't be surprised if it was fake. "I'll leave you to unpack then."

He turned to leave, but I wasn't quite sure I was ready to be in bed...or left alone. I knew nothing about my surroundings. Right now I might have wound up lying awake all night and jumping at every little sound. "Can you show me more of the castle?"

"If you want." He held open the door for me and I followed him back down the winding staircase. "I assume your home has a similar layout. I'm confident it won't take you long to get your bearings."

I supposed he was right. If this place had some decent light it might have been easier too, but since it was night maybe things would be better in the morning. I was really doubtful, but optimism was pretty much the only thing I had left at this point. Sebastian led me down several hallways and pointed out a few rooms with a mild enthusiasm at best. It was hard to get a feel for how I was supposed to interact with him. Most of the time it was easy for me to figure out people, but Sebastian… All I had gotten was he liked cats and that left me with nothing to go on. This felt more like talking to one of my servant. I didn't ask personal questions and neither did they. They just kept watch over me and ran back to my father at the first signs of trouble and even then he wouldn't deal with me either. I wonder how long it will take for him to pass me off to someone else…

There had been some stories floating around about a blood thirsty demon roaming the countryside. It went around burning small villages to the ground and had wiped out armies. I had started to believe they were true, but Sebastian didn't even compare to that. I almost wished he was as everyone thought just so I would know how I should have acted around him, or what he would have been like. "What do you do all day?"

"Not much. However, I'm much busier at night. My legions and dealing what their affairs, can be quite time consuming. I do have several capable people in charge, but I also have to pop in from time to time. The young bloods might forget who's really in charge if I don't." His red-brown eyes flashes a bright pink color and he smirked before switching topics as if we had been talking about the weather. "This is the library."

He shoved open a large wooden door so I could look inside, not that I could make out much. There were thick curtains covering the large windows and the light in the hall didn't travel very far. Sebastian sighed, obviously seeing something I didn't want wandered into the darkness. I took a couple steps into the room but didn't want to risk tripping anything so stayed there awkwardly. The candles in the room flickered to life as Sebastian threw back the curtains and commented, "You're going to ruin your eyes if you keep doing this."

The white haired boy, who had been sitting in an armchair, blinked rapidly and shrugged. The snake around his neck hissed softly and recoiled itself. "Not all of us can play with fire." He had a thick accent that I couldn't quite place, but I couldn't place a lot of them. As much as I would have like to be well versed in the languages from different lands I was still burdened with a translator whenever my family traveled. His green eyes flicked towards me and he went back to his book. "They don't bite unless you give them a reason to."

I nodded and took a few more steps into the room. I hadn't realized how anxious I must have seemed until now...not that I had a particular fondness for snakes, or reptiles in general to be honest. The had this creepy way of seeing right through you. At least it was easy to tell when a cat was paying attention to you. I stood behind Sebastian and offered a weak smile. "That's good to know."

"Adrian this is Draco. If you hear something moving around at night it's probably him."

Draco sighed and tossed his book aside. "Or that tiger of yours."

Sebastian's eyes narrowed slightly but he ignored the comment. "I doubt you'll find anything of interest, but feel free to peruse our collection at your leisure."

Draco stood and headed for the door, "I should go eat something before I forget. Adrian are you eating?" He paused in the doorway and his snake raised its head. Its small, black tongue flicked in and out of its small mouth a few times before I shook my head. My stomach was still in knots from earlier and food was the last thing I wanted right now.

He disappeared down the hallway and Sebastian led me in the opposite direction after the candles went out. He paused at one of the windows before stating, "It's getting late. We can resume this tour tomorrow. You should get some rest."

Sebastian was probably right, especially since I didn't realize I was tired most of the time until I woke up in a strange place. I was thankful he didn't make me ask him to walk me back, otherwise I might have gotten lost. In the dark all these hallways looked the same.

At some point Sebastian decided to pick me up and I let him do so without protest. I trusted him enough that he wouldn't bring me someplace I didn't want to be. I draped my arms around his neck and managed, "You're lucky I'm in a good mood. I don't normally let people do this."

He chuckled softly but didn't say anything when I rested my head against his shoulder. I won't let this happen again. I can take care of myself… I don't need to be carried to bed like a child. Sebastian pulled the blankets back and laid me on the bed. I couldn't really think enough to for any words and instead I turned over onto my stomach and sighed contently. Sebastian rested his hand along the back of my neck for a few seconds. I weakly pushed his hand away when it started to hurt, but he left it there for a few more seconds. I rubbed my neck when he stood, but didn't feel anything there. "Goodnight Adrian." I hummed in responded and pulled to blankets over my head.

What's on my back? It wasn't heavy enough to be Precious, which I was thankful for since she probably would have sunk her claws into me, but I couldn't move. The one downside about sleeping with a lot of blankets was getting stuck in them. I moved around a lot in my sleep, that was no secret. Hell some days I even woke up on the floor, but this was the last thing I wanted to deal with. Another hour can't hurt anything.

I shifted slightly and whatever was on my fell off. I just can't catch a break can I? I wormed my way out of my little cocoon and sat up to find the orange cat from yesterday sprawled out next to me. It yawned and reached to me but didn't do much other than that. "How'd you get it here?"

It swiveled one of its ears towards the door but didn't do anything else, it'd murky green eyes staying on me as I rubbed under its chin. The door wasn't open, so that obviously couldn't have been how it got in...unless it had slipped in when I wasn't paying attention. The cat mewed when I stood and flopped over. It watched as I got dressed and hadn't moved by time I had finished. "Are you going to lay there all day."

It licked the tip of its tail a few times then yawned again. "Where's your master?"

The cat jumped off the bed and pawed the door a few times waiting for me to open it so it could lead the way. Maybe I should go get breakfast before meeting with Sebastian. I don't do well on an empty stomach. The cat flopped over when the door opened to reveal Sebastian. I started and took a step back when Sebastian picked the cat up. "Milo, what did I tell you?"

Milo started purring and tipped it's head to the side. This obviously wasn't the first time this had happened and the cat knew just how to get out of trouble. "That isn't going to work." It already had though since Sebastian cradled him against his chest. and looked to me. "Breakfast is ready."

"Thanks." I followed Sebastian back down the stairs and Milo peered back at me over Sebastian's shoulder. Out of all of Sebastian's cats, this one was by far the strangest. It was more like a playful child than a cat...but Milo might have been older than he looked.

"Is there anything in particular you had in mind?"

"Not really, I'll eat anything. At home I usually have an apple or something on my way out."

Sebastian placed Milo on a sunny windowsill before sitting at the table across from me. I glanced around the small dining room wondering just how this place felt so different from the rest of the castle. There were a few brightly colored flowers in pots sitting on the in front of the large windows and the fire place in the corner could easily heat up the whole room when it was colder. I dare say it was cozy in here. "Aren't you eating?"

Sebastian propped his head up with his hand and smiled lazily. "No, I have no need for human food."

"Right...and what else don't you need?"

Sebastian paused as I shoveled another spoonful of oatmeal into my mouth, like he was trying to gauge my reaction. I've had a lot worse food, it'd have to take a bowl of charred mush to get me to complain. "Sleep, and I'm not vulnerable to the elements."

"But if I dump a vial of holy water on you?"

He rolled his eyes and shifted. It was obvious this wasn't the first time he was having this conversation. "'It would hurt but I certainly wouldn't die. And yes, I can traipse upon sacred ground and hold a bible."

"You get that a lot huh."

"A previous business acquaintance tried that when the time for payment came. I could barely contain my laughter he was so pitiful."

I rolled my eyes and propped on of my legs up on the chair. "Whatever happened the guy deserved it. You don't make plans with someone then just try to get out of them at the last minute...unless they're a con man. You can't expect any less from them and then you're just an idiot for having trusted them in the first place."

"For a spoiled brat you're quite intuitive."

I bit my spoon and frowned down into what remained of my oatmeal. "I'm not spoiled."

"Privileged." I shrugged but accepted it. I wasn't about to deny that. If I had been anybody else I would have been publicly executed or locked away in some jail cell. Maybe he's a controlled sort of insane. Like there's some switch or something in his head. "I'll figure it out soon enough. We'll be spending quite a bit of time together in the future."

"Or, think about this, you send me back with a lovely little note in Latin and by time my father figures out what it says, I'll have slipped out of the capitol and you can begin burning it to the ground. You won't have to put up with me and you can be a free man once more."

"How selfless of you, I'm almost stunned into silence."

I glared at him, not appreciating the mocking tone. It was worth a shot. "Almost is the key word here."

"Besides, I'm not going to push any buttons right now. Although I must admit the offer is almost tempting. I don't think it would be a good idea to lose track of my mate when we haven't even been acquainted for 24 hours."

Almost choking on my milk, I would up spitting it out into the glass and coughing for an uncomfortable amount of time. I waved Sebastian's hand away when he tried rubbing my back and took a few deep breaths. "Are you insane?"

I coughed a few more times before finally clearing all of the liquid out of my lungs. Sebastian seemed confused by my shock, "Your father said he discussed this with you but I supposed I should have expected this much. That man is so unreliable."

Damn him. Damn them both! Why do things like this always happen to me! I wouldn't have ever had to even bothered with marriage if my brother didn't die. And lately he's been in perfect health. If my father put this much effort into selling him off maybe half the kingdom wouldn't be staging a rebellion. It was bad enough that he was trying to sell me off but to a man! What did he think I was? "Don't touch me."

"Your face is quite red and your heart is beating awfully fast. Are you sick?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a few moments, shoving my chair back away from the table. "I need to be alone." Sebastian stared at me blankly as I walked around him and headed anywhere really. I had no preference at this point. I just needed to be alone and away from him. I really can't just catch a break can I? Once just once can something happen to me that I'm fully in control of? I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my life but it's okay because we won't be attacked by demons who were paying us no mind to begin with. Let's just ignore the plots to overthrow the king and a ready supply of illegitimate sons to take the throne. This… this was at best a distraction.

Hell, for all I know my father knows exactly what's going on and wants to make sure I'm not the one who lops off his head. Getting rid of me was only proving a point and not a very good one. There had been outcry and my father was doing the exact opposite of what the majority wanted. A king with unhappy citizens was as good as dead. Now I won't even be able to be there when it happens.

I flopped down on the leaf littered ground several yards away from the road leading to the castle and sighed. I suppose I couldn't even be surprised about this. Nothing I did or said mattered because I'm apparently a child. Children are to be seen and not heard. When they don't do both the child then disappears. They get tucked away far from anything that's going on so they can't embarrass anyone. Who cares? Maybe I can get drunk and he'll do what he wants with me. It works well enough for my parents.

I jumped when a branch broke and Sebastian leaned against a nearby tree. "We meet again."

He studied me from where he stood and I stayed on the ground, too lazy to move. "I wanted to make sure you didn't go too far."

"Death by rabid hell spawn is not my method of choice. Maybe poisoning. It shows planning." Sebastian's eyes turned a pink color, but he seemed to realize what he was doing and they quickly turned back. "Don't stop on my account."

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal about this. You honestly couldn't expect to stay unmarried forever."

"I did actually and it was working quite well for me. Then this happened. And at this point, I'm not even mad about you. I'm mad that, like always, I get thrown into something and I have no idea whats going on. I could be standing outside in the rain and someone would tell me it's not raining, then I'd get yelled at when saying they were wrong."

Sebastian sat next to me and sighed softly. "Well I for one won't do that. I find you an interesting person and I won't lie to you."

"I guess." I sat up and tried batting his hand away when he rubbed one of my ears. "And you're such a beautiful creature, who could resist such charm."

Growling, I folded my arms over my chest and stated, "If you keep this up I will bite you."

Gus Kinney: Sebastian has a way with words huh what will happen next find out next time


	5. Rest of your days?

Gus Kinney:Hello everyone lets see what happens to the prince in this chapter i call this chapter the rest of your days?

"It's getting late, we should head back."

I paused thoughtfully before slowly turning to face him then cheerfully stated, "nope."

Sebastian sighed softly and stopped following me. He had been pretty okay with my spur of the moment trip through the woods, but that was mostly because I didn't want to wind up sitting in my room the rest of the afternoon. That and this was still early for me. The sky had just started to turn orange and pink streaks hadn't even formed yet. We still had at least a couple hours before it would even begin to get dark and it wouldn't take that long to get back. "Just a little farther."

"That's not in your best interest."

"Nothing I do is in my best interest; I'm 'impulsive and immature'. It apparently comes with the territory." Geez, I sound like my dad. Then again when someone was treating me like a child I felt compelled to act like one.

Sebastian wasn't impressed with my half-hearted attempt at humor and folded his arms over his chest. "Five more minutes."

He brushed back some of his dark hair and shook his head slightly. "As tempting as that offer sounds; I'm going to have to decline."

I sighed softly and turned back towards the extensive forest before me, taking a few more steps forward to see how Sebastian reacts. I didn't hear him following me, but he also didn't make any attempt to drag me back either. I didn't understand why he was getting so worked up. We weren't that far away; I could still see the castle's tower in between the trees. Sebastian didn't want me too far from the castle. We weren't even… married yet and he was already being overbearing. I hated to see what would happen once he made me go through with this. Just thinking about it was enough to irritate me. I turned again and started walking backwards. "What are you so scared of anyway? What's a wolf got on a demon king? Or is it bats?"

I glanced back and Sebastian rolled his eyes before slowly trailing after me. "You have yet to realize the real dangers that lurk in the dark. When compared to me I seem as harmless as a kitten. Not all the things that go bump in the night can take human form."

Since I hadn't been watching where I was going, I would up tripping over a partially hidden tree branch. I caught myself, but didn't manage to not land on my tail and whimpered softly when I pulled it out from under me. This is why I keep it tucked away. I made a mental note that it was Sebastian's fault when he came to stand over me. "Are you alright?"

Once the pain subsided, I ignored his outstretched hand and sprung up. "I'm fine; I've done a lot worse."

"You're bleeding."

"What?" I glanced down at my palms and brushed off some of the dirt to find a small scratch. It must have been from the branch or maybe some thorns. It would be fine once I washed it off. "It's just a scrape." I wiped my hands on my pants when Sebastian skeptically eyes me and turned again, "All better. Let's go."

I jumped when he grabbed my tail and started to turn, only he didn't let go so I stopped. "What did I tell you about that?"

"Hold still, honestly you're like a fussy child."

I huffed and folded my arms over my chest, trying to be patient while he did something. I didn't want him touching me. The spot on my neck where he touched me last night still hurt. I hadn't realized I was rubbing it until Sebastian let go of my tail and took my hand into his to get a better look at it. He ran one of his long fingers over the palm of my hand and nodded to himself. "I suppose you're right." I quickly pulled my hand away when Sebastian brushed his lips against my knuckles and made a point to traipse further into the woods.

Why does he keep doing things like this? It feels like he's trying to court me. Even if he was, it didn't make sense. Everything was said and done with. Whether or not he had earned my affections by time he decided it was time to get married didn't matter.

I tucked my tail away while Sebastian was distracted and continued to wander along. Now I'm definitely going to take my time heading back.

Eventually the already dark forest blocked out what remained of the natural light and I started heading back towards the castle…. as least I thought I was heading back towards the castle. I wasn't sure at this point. Sebastian not saying anything about it was the only real guidance I received. What felt like minutes passed before I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Sighing softly, I mentally admitted I should have just listened to Sebastian. I jumped when Sebastian touched my back suddenly and tipped my head back to find his now pink eyes looming about me in the darkness. "What?"

"You're going the wrong way."

"Well lead me then." I grabbed the back of his shirt and trailed along behind him. It was a lot easier to find my way following him. I crashed into him when he stopped suddenly, "What is it?"

I released his shirt and took a few steps back. I peered into the darkness and tried to find what he was looking for, but it didn't work very well. I could barely tell the thick branches apart from the almost black sky. Before the wind would occasionally move the branches of the tree but now, everything was at a standstill. It was like the forest was holding its breath in anticipation of something. I had thought this place was creepy before but now…

The trees to my right exploded with movement and I was tackled to the ground by some large flying thing. My back hit the ground after having been dragged a couple feet and I struggled to sit up and calm my racing heart. "That wasn't a bat."

"Yes."

A ring of fire surrounded us and whatever was out there roared in frustration. Sebastian stood over me as calm as could be, like he had done this before. How the hell can he be so calm about this? If he had told me something like this was out here I would have gone back hours ago! "Then what the hell is it?!"

I closed the distance between us and stood a little closer than necessary. He was the only one of us who could see into the darkness. "A gargoyle." I glared up at him when he smirked and folded my arms over my chest.

"You could have just said something like this would have happened."

"I didn't want to frighten you."

"Yes, because nearly getting carried away by a giant flying beast isn't terrifying."

He pats the top of my head and for a moment his eyes went back to being brown. "I wouldn't let something like that happen."

"Could have fooled me." I took a step around him and started heading back towards the direction we had been going...I think. This whole forest looked the same. "You're going the wrong way again." An irritated huff escaped me and I picked another direction at random. Sebastian didn't seem to be feeling helpful right now. "It's going to rain."

I threw my hands up and sarcastically replied, "of course, why wouldn't it?"

I ignored a rather large drop of water landing on my head. "That's wrong too."

"Then where are we going!"

Another couple drops of water landed on my head and the ring of fire turned into a large fireball. Sebastian led the to my left and I rushed to catch up. Out of all the horrible places I had gotten lost in this was, by far, the worst. At least before I didn't have people standing over me and telling me I was going the wrong way. Sebastian pulled his coat off after the sky had opened and draped it over my shoulders. "What was that for?"

"I can't have you getting sick because you were exposed to the elements."

Even if Sebastian wasn't a demon, I couldn't seem him taking his coat back so easily. I slipped my arms into the sleeves, even though they went well past my hands. "Uh thanks… I guess."

"Think nothing of it."

The fire floating next to him didn't flicker with each drop of rain that passed through it, like it wasn't really there in the first place. "How is that still going?"

"Magic."

I rolled my eyes and climbed over a slowly decaying fallen tree. Obviously he was using magic, but since when was magic not affected by its surroundings? I'm pretty sure if you dumped a bucket of water on a magical fire it would still go out… unless you needed blessed water or something. I stayed away from magic. Alchemy was much more my speed. It didn't matter what you combined… well except for things like magnesium and sulfur, but I had learned my lesson several times.

The forest seemed even darker than before when Sebastian banished his fire ball, but he quickly took me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around for balance and he pulled his coat tighter around me. I hadn't exactly been cold, but he seemed so eager to play the part of concerned caregiver I could at least give him that. Sebastian ran his fingers through my damp hair after I had closed my eyes. While my guard was down I realized I had started purring. I pretended not to notice, but Sebastian's soft laughter proved he had. After I stopped I shifted slightly, trying to make it seem like I had been sleeping instead. This is going to be a long night.

Why is it so cold in here? I poked my head out from under the blankets and squinted in the bright light filtering through the windows. I tried sitting up, but the room was spinning so badly I just flopped back down and buried my face in a pillow. Last night slowly came swimming back to me as I burrowed deeper into the blankets. Out of all the times I had been outside in the rain why did I have to get sick now? I silently hoped it wasn't anything that would leave me in bed for days. I could never sit still that long no matter how sick I was. After a couple days I got restless and roamed around, only to be brought back to bed and repeat the process until I was strong enough to go off on my own. I was never one for being cooped up inside for days on end.

I started when someone pulled the blankets back and peered up to find Sebastian standing over me. "How are you feeling?"

Aside from being cold and feeling like I had swallowed a mouthful of cotton, the dizziness wasn't anything I hadn't dealt with before. I was almost positive I would be fine by tomorrow...or the day after at most. This would just be one of those day long things, I knew it. "I'm okay."

Sebastian threw another blanket over me then rested his hand on the back of my neck for a few moments. "You're still a bit warm."

I slowly sat up again and braced myself with one of my arms. "I'll be okay."

Sebastian piled the pillows up against the headboard and I leaned against them. He handed me a small cup of what looked like water and stared at me until I took a few sips. It was a bit bitter and my tongue went numb for a few seconds, but it might have been from whatever herbs he had put in it there were a few small leaves floating around on the surface. I managed to drink about half of it before I handed the cup back to him. I figured I was better off not asking what was in it. Sebastian probably would tell me, or it would be something that would never cross my mind to consume. "Get some more sleep and I'll bring you something to eat in a bit."

"But I'm not tired now." Milo climbed up on the nightstand and peered into the half empty cup. He nudged it with one of his paws then nearly jumped off the small space.

Sebastian sighed and picked it up before Milo could get into it. "Honestly, can't you stop playing with things you shouldn't have for five minutes."

Milo meowed and tried to reach around Sebastian to get to the cup. Sebastian however, wasn't quite in the mood to deal with his antics and glared at him. Milo nipped my hand when I picked him up off the nightstand and placed him on my lap. "He's just lonely."

He swiped his tongue across my hand as confirmation and gazed over at Sebastian. "Don't get yourself too worked up. Your condition could get worse if you over excite yourself."

"I'm fine, its just a cold."

Sebastian didn't respond and covered my legs with the blanket before excusing himself. He left the door slightly ajar for Milo, in case he decided to leave, but the boisterous cat showed no signs of moving anytime soon. How long have I been asleep anyway? It must have been well into the afternoon if Sebastian had time to check on me and make...whatever that was. I could honestly go for another nap. I didn't know what Sebastian was planning on making, but I should have had enough time to take another one. Knowing Milo he'd wake me up when Sebastian came back. I closed my eyes and ran my fingers through his soft, orange fur.

I started awake when Milo pounced on my chest. He flopped down next to me and prepared to jump again when I sat up, obviously not satisfied with the job he had done. He sneezed when I tapped his nose and licked his paw a few times. "You didn't have to wake him up."

Milo switched paws and ignored Sebastian, who wore a tiny smile. Late afternoon light now filtered in through the window and a lit candle sat on the nightstand. I didn't mean to sleep that long. "What time is it?"

"Almost Seven, how are you feeling?"

I shrugged and rubbed my neck a few times since I slept on it the wrong way. "Better, I'm not so dizzy now."

"That's good." Sebastian rested his hand along my forehead then added, "You don't feel as warm as before either. Are you up for eating something."

I nodded and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, ready to do something other than sleep. "You should rest, I'll bring it to you."

"I'll be fine, I need to get out of this bed. And I don't want to fall asleep again." Sebastian helped me stand and Milo pranced out of the room ahead of us. Sebastian followed me closely and ran his fingers through my unkempt hair a few times as we went to the dining room.

Draco and Pyroa must have been having some sort of moment because the room fell silent when the door opened. Draco glanced over from where he was sitting in the window but didn't say anything. Pyros on the other hand was as cheerful as ever. "Hey there, how you feeling?"

I shrugged and sat adjacent to him at the circular table. "Better."

Draco brushed back some of his white hair and commented, "you're so loud."

"And you've got a stick rammed so far up your-

Sebastian shoved his chair nearly out from under him and placed a bowl in front of me. "Can't we all get along?"

Pyros laughed nervously and fixed his chair as I swallowed small spoonfuls of soup. A tense silence settled across the room, but nobody besides me seemed to notice. Sebastian was too busy fussing over me to really notice Pyros teasing Draco, and Draco seemed to be looking for something so he paid Pyros no mind. He stood suddenly and reached under the table. There was a loud hiss and I jumped back as he pulled out a loud viper. It had its fangs sunk into Draco's arm but he didn't seem to feel it and hissed back. His hand started to bruise at the point of impact and he slipped out the room without another word. "Does that happen a lot?"

"Yeah, although usually the snakes stay where they belong, it's warmer there. Or they come find me. Stay away from the black ones. They bite."

"I think I'll stay away from all of them."

"They're just snakes."

I crinkled my nose in distaste. It was easy to say that, but at the end of the day I didn't like them. Reptiles of any sort really. They were all covered in spines or had sharp teeth and were just waiting to bite you. If dragons were real I might have never gone in half the caves I have...or any ominous charred place I had come across either. "I'll stick with warm blooded creatures."

Pyros shrugged and let the subject drop. A small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth when Sebastian brushed back some of my hair, but he didn't say anything. I sighed softly and put it back where it was. I didn't know what he was trying to do but I didn't like it. "You two aren't even married yet and you already act like you have been for years."

Sebastian smirked but didn't say anything when I huffed. "He's the one who thinks I'm going through with this."

He chuckled softly and ruffled my hair. "Don't worry your pretty little head about that, you have all the time in the world to try to evade a binding agreement."

Pyros gold eyes widened slightly but he didn't say anything. Something told me he regretted bringing the subject up in the first place. He must do that a lot. Draco poked his head back in for a moment to tell Pyros he was doing the dishes before disappearing again. "Thats not fair! I cleaned the kitchen last week!" He stood and went after Draco leaving Sebastian and I alone in the now eerily silent room.

After I rubbed one of my eyes and yawned, Sebastian decided it was time I went back to bath. He checked the time before adding, "A bath first."

"Can't I take one tomorrow?"

Sebastian sighed and took me into his arms despite my protesting. "No, you'll feel better once you're clean." I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything, and complaints were falling on deaf ears. He just goes around and does whatever he wants. There's no way this will work out. A frustrated sigh escaped me and I started squirming around until he put me down. "Must you really be so stubborn?"

"It's my choice."

Sebastian's eyes flashed pink when I definitely folded my arms over my chest. "You really hate listening to others that much don't you? Even when they have your best interest at heart."

"I don't think you do. Everybody says they have my best interest at heart when they're really just trying to further their own personal agenda. So I'm going to have to say yes. When I do something and the results are bad the only person I can blame is myself."

I tried to pull away when Sebastian cupped my face in his hands but found myself captivates by his swirling pink eyes. "Now why would I do that? I already know what I'm getting from you being here. It doesn't matter how long you live, but I'd like to put off something as unpleasant as death for quite some time. Don't you agree?"

My mind when blank when he leaned closer. I opened and closed my mouth a few times and tried to come up with a response, but nothing came to mind. I managed a small nod and Sebastian led me into the bathroom. The tub had already been filled with water, but Sebastian took a moment to heat it up again before turning to me.

I got Sebastian to let me undress myself, but after that Sebastian insisted on doing everything himself. Nobody had tried giving me a bath since I was little, and even then it didn't go well. I was never very fond of people touching me, so I was very fussy. Bath time was something that involved most of my mothers chamber maidens and then some. By time I turned ten everyone had given up and the only time I was dragged into the bath was when guests were coming and I looked like I had been sleeping on the streets for a few weeks. In a couple cases I had, but that was besides the point.

For the first time today I wasn't cold and what little dizziness that was remaining quickly disappeared as Sebastian ran a soapy cloth along my back. I guess this isn't so bad… but I'm definitely doing it myself next time. I rested my forehead on my knees and closed my eyes for a few minutes. I shouldn't be this tired, I slept all day.

I was startled when Sebastian dumped some water on the back of my head and glanced around the dim room before settling on him. Sebastian leaned back and tipped his head to one side, startled with my sudden movement. "Did I wake you?"

"No…" I flinched involuntarily when he dumped more water on my head and sighed softly.

"What's wrong?" I didn't respond for a few moments and he brushed back some of my wet hair to get a better look at me.

"Just be careful with my ears, I'm not supposed to get water in them."

Sebastian gave me a small smile and nodded, before disappearing behind me. I screwed my eyes shut and hugged my knees to my chest, hoping this would be over and done with sooner that I expected. A few drops here or there wouldn't do that much damage, but after yesterday I was hesitant to risk any more water falling into them.

The process that followed was a painfully slow and stressful one. Almost every time Sebastian put more water on me, I flinched or shifted uncomfortably. I wasn't sure I actually trusted him enough to do something like this if he hadn't thrown me into this situation. When everything was done I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and climbed out. Sebastian bundled me into a fluffy towel and kissed the top of my head, softly murmuring, "that wasn't so bad was it?"

He might as well have been a human lie detector, and anything I said wouldn't have convinced him of anything. I was too tired to put any effort into a lie. Instead I buried my face in his chest and waited for him to finish drying my hair so I could get dressed.

I let him take me into his arms once again and yawned. "Why do you keep doing all of this stuff anyway? I can take care of myself."

He rubbed small circles on my back with his thumb after a thoughtful pause. "No reason in particular. Just because you can take care of yourself, it doesn't mean you don't have to rely on others from time to time."

"I'd rather not. It's easier that way. You can keep track of what's done and what's not when you're the one doing all the work."

I felt his lips on my hair once again and half-heartedly pushed him away. "I'm sorry to hear that. You must be a very lonely person."

"I'm not lonely. I am independent and I had all the friends I could possibly need."

He chuckled softly and I could practically hear him roll his eyes. "My first guess was closed off, but you're much too spirited for that."

Spirited. I suppose the term was close enough. It could mean a wide variety of things from passionate to raving lunatic. I knew which side on the spectrum I was on. And it certainly wasn't the side that would get me shut up in some tower for having a strange fit or two. "Yes, I am, most haven't seen it as a good thing."

"It's interesting to watch how you deal with less than desirable circumstances."

I tipped my head back and peered up at him as he started up the stairs. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged, seeming to not fully understand what the question meant. "Humans always do things in a much more complicated way that necessary."

"So I'm complicated."

"I suppose."

"Name one reason?"

His eyes turned pink and he sat on the edge of my bed with me in his lap. I could have easily left if I wanted too, but I didn't want to let the subject drop just because I wound up falling asleep. "You let emotions cloud your judgement and think irrationally. It's fun to watch most of the time. Unless one of my… business associates decided to run off and do something stupid after I've told them not to."

There has to be more to these 'business associates' than he let's on. He doesn't seem like to type to care if his business partners get killed. Then again maybe I was better off not knowing. Who knows what happened when they didn't listen to him. Some things were better off left unknown and this was one of them. That and I thought he might have tried to put me to bed if I pressed the subject. "You're also very prideful… although I can't be one to talk."

"Name one time."

Sebastian just stared down at me as if I knew the answer myself. It may have taken a few minutes for me to catch on, but once I did what little fatigue I had been feeling quickly faded away. "Because I won't marry you."

"Underlying things suggest your mostly doing this because you're being told you have to. You're one who will go out of their way to do something if they're told they have to and there's no way around it."

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it?"

I let out an irritated huff and folded my arms over my chest. This didn't prove anything. I was always being told what to do. If someone told me to do something I didn't want to do I refused to do it. And if someone was to tell me not to do something I wanted to do, of course I was going to go behind their back and do it anyway. It wasn't some need to disobey someone who wanes to assume a role of authority. Maybe the second part had become a part of my nature but it wasn't always like that. And it wasn't my fault either, I had just grown to abhor the idea of someone forcing me into things they know I won't like. He still isn't right. Even if he is, which he isn't, I can't let him think he is. "No. I refuse to let someone ship me off to be married to someone I don't love."

I felt my eyes widen and mentally kicked myself. I sound like such a girl! Who actually says that? "No wait. I didn't mean that. I don't even like men." Sebastian leaned back and studied me silently and I kept trying to fix myself. The only thing I would in up doing was dig myself deeper into the hole I had flung myself into. "Shut up! You know what I meant."

"I don't believe I do, please elaborate."

Irritation began to prickle at the edges of my consciousness and I took a deep breath to calm myself. Not that it did much because him sitting there with the smug smirk on his face did nothing but further infuriate me. "I am not interested. Nor will I ever be. I am almost eighteen years old and I refuse to be tied down to a place like this because my father is playing some sick joke on me. I have my whole life ahead of me and I'm not going to spend a moment of it chained to the likes of you. I'm going to go places and further into the depths of this castle are not one of them."

Sebastian chuckled softly, his eye switching back to their normal color and he leaned closer to me. "Now what on earth makes you think you're going to be spending the rest of your days here? As fun as playing house can be, that is far too long. Even I don't have the patience for such domestic play. But such things are best left discussed when you are feeling a bit more cooperative." A chill ran through me when he ran one of his fingers along the bottom of my chin and I leaned back. I wasn't biting at whatever he was throwing. If anything I was more determined than ever to make sure this didn't happen. I wouldn't let him.

Not knowing what he planned on doing, I slid to the floor and quickly said, "I'm going to bed."

Sebastian slid to the floor and stood before me wordlessly. I jumped when he bundled me against his chest and kissed the top of my head, but before I had time to process what he was really up to, he was already gone.

Sighing to myself I flopped down across the bed and stared up at the beams that crisscrossed the ceiling. How the hell was I just supposed to go to sleep after that? He just managed to get me all riled up and even though I felt fatigue weighing me down, my mind was abuzz with all these questions I knew I wasn't going to get an answer to unless I went and searched for them myself.

Gus Kinney: wow lol what did that mean? find out as the story is to be continued


	6. The Truth

Gus Kinney: hello there here is the next chapter i call this one the truth

I flopped backwards onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Sebastian would be gone for most of the day. Even if he had told me to stay in bed, we both knew that wasn't going to happen. Instead I planned on making good on my mental vow to get to the bottom of what was going on. Draco had been left in charge, for some strange reason, but it was turning out to mean I had free reign of the place. I had figured he wasn't too keen on my being here, or he was distancing himself on purpose. Either way we had this silent agreement that I would stay out of his was and he would stay out of mine. After dinner yesterday, almost getting bit by a snake was perfect incentive for it. For all I know he would have let it bite me if Sebastian hadn't been around. I didn't want to give him any reasons to drop a snake in my bed while I was sleeping.

Something clawing at the door dragged me from my thoughts and I quickly sat up. The latch threatened to give with swipe of a large paw. Before Sebastian's tiger had a chance to knock the door off its hinges, I rushed over and opened it. She paid me no mind as she sauntered in and climbed up on my bed. "Make yourself at home, why not?"

She huffed and the tip of her tail moved ever so slightly, but that was the only sigh I received that she had actually heard me. The large cat seemed more interested in tearing apart another one of my pillows. Sebastian really wasn't kidding when he said she was spoiled.

I decided now was a good of a time as any to get back to my search for the truth. I left the door opened and bounded down the steps, hoping I could pick up where I left off. I had already checked over what little of the castle I was fairly familiar with. None of the rooms I wandered into seemed to have anything of interest. and all the doors looked the same so it was hard to keep track. Eventually I just began to look for door that seemed out of place, but I only wound up finding a dining hall and a ballroom. They both looked like they hadn't been used in ages, so I didn't bother doing much more than poking my head in.

Now I was making my way through unfamiliar territory and I wasted time by doubling back to make sure I could be able to easily make my way back to somewhat familiar ground. My footsteps echoed off the stone walls and floor, creating the illusion that someone was following me down the dim corridor. Even during the day this place is so gloomy.

I headed down another side corridor, figuring I'd just come up with another dead end. Only the hallway led to a set of about five stairs that ended at an wrought iron door. This looks promising… if it doesn't lead to the dungeon.

I rested my hand on the handle before taking a deep breath and pushing the door open. As it swung back humid air rushed out to meet me and I peered into a large greenhouse. Lush green plants crowded the room, not to mention miniature trees and flowers I couldn't even begin to describe. It was obvious everything had been shipped in from warmer climates because it was a lot warmer in here than it ever got in this area. Even in the summer. I wouldn't have been that surprised if Sebastian had constructed this room just for his tiger. Although currently she seemed more taken with my room than this one. I guess a quick look around won't hurt.

"Don't step there." I jumped when Draco's voice sounded from farther into the room and I slowly backed away.

"Sorry, I didn't know there was anyone in here."

He shrugged and emerged from the plants in front of me. A large snake was wrapped around most of his body, but he paid it little to no mind when it rested its head on his shoulder. "You're going about this all wrong."

"About what?" I started when something in the bush nearby hissed and stepped to the side. Who knows how many of those things are lurking in here.

Draco sighed but paused for a moment. "You don't have to play stupid. I'm not taking sides or anything, but I can't say I condone what's going on. Did you manage to find his study yet?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but quickly closed it again. There was no way I was that transparent. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him all day so how the hell did he know what I was up to? Was I really that predictable? "I'll take your silence as a no."

I nodded and waited for him to continue. As impartial as he was trying to seem, Draco was probably the most helpful person in this castle. Pyros seemed blissfully ignorant or he was choosing to ignore what was going on. "It may or may not be in the library if you pull on a certain book. Not that I would know." He paused and tipped his head to the side and rubbed his neck before adding, "That looks painful, you might want to take a look at it."

I rubbed my neck, suddenly feeling self conscious, but I didn't feel anything there. And I didn't remember rubbing it anytime recently. "What are you talking about?"

Draco shrugged again and disappeared into his miniature world. I made haste in slipping out and closed the door back behind me before anything could creep out of its hiding spot. I dropped my hand from my neck and forced myself to leave it alone. I tried reasoning it away by saying I had scratched myself in my sleep or something, but I got the feeling Draco wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't something important. What the hell did my father throw me into? I should have jumped that ship when I had the chance.

A soft sigh escaped me as I trudged up the stairs to my room. If Precious was still in there I was just hoping she wasn't getting into something else she wasn't really supposed to have. She was sprawled out across the wooden floor in a patch of sunlight. If she was awake, she paid me no mind as I stepped around her and made my way to the wardrobe. After cracking open the door, I froze and rubbed my neck again. What am I going to find? I took a hesitant step back and paced the floor in front of the wardrobe for what felt like hours before I gained some sort of self confidence. It's my own body, why the hell should I be afraid to look at it?

With that, I threw the door back and pulled my collar down to find a black mark plastered across my neck. It looked like some sort of pentagram and I assumed it would have fit perfectly in Sebastian's hand if he was to put it there again. That's why it hurt so much! I fell into a slightly confused and irritated state. Any questions I could have had wouldn't be answered, so I was left standing there and staring. One word that kept coming to mind was why. I mean, was it like a weird branding or something? I wasn't property. Even with his mark tattooed onto my I wouldn't be his. Physically sure, I supposed he could keep me here, but emotionally? Nope. It wasn't going to happen. He could play house all he wanted with an unwilling spouse because I wanted no part of any of this. There's got to be some way to get rid of this. If Sebastian put it on he must have been able to take it off right?

The door banged shut and Precious started awake with a disgruntled yawn. I stepped around her once again and took the stairs two at a time, wanting ample time to break into Sebastian's study and get back before he could realize I had been there in the first place. Part of me was silently wishing he found me there just so I could confront him about this that much sooner. He tells me he has my best interest in mind, then manipulates me into doing something I don't want to do. Only then he acts all concerned again then he runs off and does something like this? This guy never ran out of faces to put on. The only real problem was figuring out which was the real one and weeding out the fakes. I bet it borders on the line of charismatic lunatic and an egotistical control freak.

I sighed and rested my hands atop my head and slowly made my way back to the library. This isn't any better at being home. At least there I was allowed outside without supervision.

The library seemed even emptier than before . Dust floated around as long forgotten tomes slowly withered away on the vast array of story tall bookcases. I had been in much more lively places and this wasn't one of them. At least at home someone always seemed to be in the library, whether is was one of my tutors trying to teach me anything from math to politics to a servant trying to learn how to read. Although silent emptiness seemed to be a reoccurring theme here. I don't think four or four hundred people could make much of a difference, this whole area was just so detached from everything that was going on. It was tucked away in its own little world and anybody who came here would be from the little world.

Most of the bookcases created small isles and nooks in the middle of the room, so I immediately went to one against the wall and started pulling books out. I had gone through two bookcases, and was starting to wonder if I was even in the right area when one of them refused to come off the shelf. There was a loud click and I jumped back as the bookcase swung open. The torches lining the wall burst into life and seemed to line the entire passage. However the stairway curved so I couldn't see all the way down. It's either now or never I suppose. I glanced around the empty room before slowly starting down the seemingly endless stairs.

When I was about three torched in, I heard the bookcase click shut again and glance behind me to find an empty wall blocking my path. Great, now he'll definitely know I was in here. Maybe there was another way out. There was no way in a castle this old there weren't any hidden passages. I had the ones back home memorized. It can't be that hard to find another way out.

As I ventured deeper into the hidden away depths of the castle I began to feel the walls pressing in on me. Every so often I would wanted into the center of the passageway and stretch my arms out to make sure my finger tips just barely brushed along either wall. Time seemed at a standstill and I was left wondering just how long I had been down here. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes but it felt like it had been hours.

The stairs ended at a heavy looking wooden door and I just prayed that it wasn't locked. I had to use most of my weight to get the door unstuck but when it gave way I fell into a dark room. Of course the room can't be lit, that would be too easy. I stepped back into the hallway and managed to pry a torch from the wall before entering the room again. It wasn't as small as I would expect. There was a small desk straight ahead and I found half a candle sitting there. I lit it then replaced the torch before returning to the desk. There was a small stack of papers sitting in the corner, but as I rifled through them, I could even begin to place the language. It wasn't like there were any pictures to go from either. All there were was squiggly lines and symbols that I assume meant something. Not that I could be entirely sure at this point.

I opened one of the drawers and found an old looking book sitting in there. Leather straps ran the length of the bindings, but the buckles seem to have been left unlocked. Although it wouldn't have taken much to undo them. Now this looks promising.

I opened the cover and turned the pages, not really reading anything but looking at the pictures instead. I couldn't even begin to understand what half of them were supposed to mean even after skimming the page. From what I gathered it was some sort of spell book. I never thought demons had these. I thought being a master of the dark arts came with the territory.

The scarlet ribbon attached to the book had been left on a page lacking a title. There were also a lot of complicated words I didn't know, but Latin was never my language of choice. Out of all the languages I dabbled in it was by far the most useless. The only thing I was certain I understood was 'soul transformation'. Whatever the hell that was for. Demons could see souls and stuff right? So if they found one they didn't like why would they even bother trying to fix it? I know I wouldn't. I continued to skim down the page and got even more lost. This sounds complicated… and dangerous. The consequences of not doing it correctly was at least the soul disintegrating...or disappearing or something like that, and being forced to roam in eternal darkness. Just what the hell was Sebastian planning on dabbling in.

The door slammed shut suddenly and I jumped. The book fell to the floor as I whipped around to find Sebastian standing there. His eyes turned pink as he glared down at me and the candle's flame grew in size. Damn, I wasn't planning on being down here when he got back. "What are you doing?"

I cleared my throat to get rid of some of the nervousness rising and remembered what I had wanted to tell him in the first place. "What did you do to me?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit! A freaking summoning circle on my neck isn't nothing!"

He folded his arms over his chest and I could have sworn he growled. He can kill me right now and nobody would find the body. I whimpered softly and pressed my back against the edge of the desk, wanting to keep as much space in between him and myself. He wouldn't really kill me would he? Why wait so long? He could have done this a couple days ago… Unless he's going to sacrifice me. Oh god why? I don't want to be a sacrifice! I'm too young to die!

Confrontation was definitely not an option. The last this I wanted to do right now was test his patience. Sebastian seemed to be running short on it. Whatever he had run off to do today seemed to have left him outside his usual composed self. Maybe this is what he's actually like… I lied this is worse. I can't be scared all the time, I'll have a heart attack in my sleep!

He shook his head to himself before crossing over to me and throwing me over his shoulder and heading back up the stairs. "Who told you?"

I wasn't about to sell Draco out just because Sebastian caught me. I wasn't going to drag him along with me. "I was looking for something to read. There's nothing else to do when a cat decides to make itself at home on top of you."

"You're lying. I know it was Pyros."

"Like I'd go looking for Draco. Him and his snakes scare me, I'll stay away from his thank you very much." That wasn't entirely a lie. I hadn't sought him out, and he did scare me.

"That doesn't mean he didn't tell you."

"Like I'd do anything he'd tell me to. I wouldn't trust him any farther than I could throw him."

I blinked in the sudden bright light of the library and fixed my shirt once I was back on the ground. "Now back to the subject at hand. What the hell is this thing."

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"It's my body! Don't tell me not to worry about strange burning markings that show up out of nowhere! Until you're ready to act like an adult and start telling the truth don't talk to me." I turned sharply and walked out of the room at a brisk pace… mostly because I didn't want to deal with the aftermath of everything.

I'd either wind up losing my nerve because he scared me or he'd worm his way out of things and redirect me into something else, like telling me I should have been in bed or something like that.

How the hell was I supposed to be able to deal with him when he kept pushing me in all these different directions? He was undoubtedly one of the most frustrating and infuriating people I had ever met!

Precious scurried out of the way when I threw the door open as Sebastian continued to follow me. "Don't tell me your having a change of heart already."

I pushed his hand away when he tried to touch me and his eyes quickly returned to their normal color. "Adrian, I didn't mean to make you cry."

Cry? I'm not crying… I wiped my face on my sleeve and sighed in frustration. I could remember the last time I had been so mad I started crying. Now he'll never take me seriously. "I'm not crying! You just piss me off!"

He tipped his head to the side as if he didn't understand why. "It's my mark. I need to make sure your safe since I can't always be around."

"I don't need you to keep an eye on me. I'm a human being not another one of your pets."

He kept encroaching upon my personal space as if it would change anything about what was going on. "Then what do you need."

"I need you to stop lying through your teeth. You either care or you don't. And right now it's leaning towards don't since you apparently don't think anything I say had any value. I need to go home but that's not an option. Not that I'd really want to be there either since nobody needs me around but its better than being here. I need to be with someone who isn't going to tell me they care while they are purposely not telling me things, despite my asking, and pretending it didn't happen when it did. I need to be treated like I'm important but thats obviously not going to happen. The only thing I can have that I actually need is to be left alone." Sebastian stood there for a few more seconds before I prompted, "that means you take your tiger and you leave."

I flopped down on the bed and ignored him standing there for a few more seconds before he took his tiger and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Damn, now I think I really am crying. I didn't want to think anymore, but it was way too early to go to bed and I had slept enough yesterday. All I needed to do was turn my brain off until I needed to eat something. I had until at least tomorrow, but Sebastian might not have let me skip two meals. If he didn't show up in person he'd probably punish Draco by sending him up here with them.

I'm not asking for that much am I? Going home wasn't an option, I was right about that. But going back to the Capitol wasn't. I could always figure something out. Living away from home had never been a problem for me. I was always better at being on my own. No people to have forced interactions with. No pointless arguments. And I certainly wouldn't have had to put up with what had just happened.

I buried my face in a pillow and slowly worked my way under the blankets. Napping was really my only option. I wasn't going to sit in here all afternoon sulking. Sleeping gave me a reason too.

I awoke once again to Milo pouncing on me again. I didn't know how long I had been out for, but I wasn't ready to get up. After weakly shoving him away, I groggily uttered, "cat go away, I'm sleeping. Go bother your master, he's the one who's supposed to be taking care of you."

Milo flopped down on top of me and meowed loudly until I sat up. He rolled to the side and huffed as I started, "for the love of-

I trailed off when finding Sebastian standing in the doorway and holding Lucas by the collar of his shirt. He didn't seem all that surprised to have found me asleep. "You can return to sulking after you deal with this."

Lucas flashed me an impish smirk after Sebastian released him and took a couple steps forward. "Are you still sure your legitimate? Right now you are literally locked away in a tower."

I rolled my eyes and slid to the floor, too sleepy to deal with his attempts at humor right now. Sebastian remained vigilant in the doorway, obviously not having taken a liking to Lucas. "Maybe I'm not, but welcome to limbo, where you're eternally waiting for nothing… or the end of your life known as marriage."

Sebastian's eyes flashed pink in the background and they narrowed slightly when Lucas snorted. Before he had a chance to respond, Sebastian decided it was time to get to the point. "You're here because?"

Lucas jerked his head in Sebastian's direction a few times and smirked. I stepped forward and smiled sarcastically, gripping him by the shoulders and shaking him a couple times. "Not in this lifetime or the next 12."

"Thirteen is the lucky number then." He patted me on the head and beamed while patting my head.

His grey eyes clouded over briefly and he stepped back. "What is it?"

He took a deep breath and let his eyes roam around my room, desperately seeking a way out. Lucas was never one to be the bearer of anything that could be perceived as problematic or bad news. When it came to those he was close with, he was about as confrontational as a dormouse surrounded by cats. "Or, how about this. You send me away now, I can start heading back before the rest of the light fades and we can pretend this never happened." Lucas still refused to look at me and rocked back and forth anxiously. Whatever he had to say I knew I probably wouldn't like it. Or he didn't think I would like it. There was a big difference between the two. "Adrian please, you know I hate being put in the middle of this stuff."

I didn't respond and shifted my weight slightly. If I stayed silent for long enough he would eventually crack and just tell me what I wanted to know. It may not have been the most considerate method, but Lucas wasn't as experienced in changing the subject as Sebastian was. Nor did I ever hope he did. "Well your father had his guards track me down. I figured it was because you had run away again or something since I hadn't seen you since you got back, but they dragged me into his study instead. I took it as a good sign, only he asked me for a favor and I knew it couldn't have been anything good, but I wasn't really in a position to object and-

"Lucas please get to the point."

He started and laughed nervously. "Right...uh…" He paused for a few minutes and stared down at the floor, trying to collect his thoughts since he had obviously been planning on dragging this out for awhile. Normally Lucas could drag this process out for another hour, but I didn't want him testing Sebastian's patience as well, I didn't trust him to not kill Lucas.

"Your father wants you to come home. I don't really know why, but I think it has something to do with your brother. I heard one of the maids say something about 'it not looking good for him'. I had heard rumors about him catching something that was going around, but apparently its something else. I think he just wants you to make face in case something happens. The Capital hasn't exactly been the most royal friendly place of late, as you know. Or rather he wants them to know your not dead."

"What do you mean 'it's not looking good for him'?" Lucas shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "He's not going to die or anything, right?"

"I don't know. I've been avoiding the castle now that you're not there." I sat on the hope chest at the end of the bed and bit the inside of my lip. I may not have been all that fond of my brother, but I never would have wished him dead. That was the last thing I wanted. If I did go back, it wouldn't be for my father, its be for him. I hadn't even been gone a week and something like this happened.

"I'm going to go, come or don't, it doesn't really matter, but if I were you I'd sleep on it for a couple days."

"You can't, it's dark out."

Lucas paused and stared blankly at me for a few seconds. He was trying to figure out if I was joking or not. "Since when are you afraid of the dark."

"I'm not. I'm afraid of what's in the dark."

Lucas tapped his chin thoughtfully then grinned, trying to mask his eagerness to stay while slowly replying, "I supposed I can stay. It is getting late and mom is always worrying about me staying out after dark by myself."

"Sebastian, Lucas is spending the night." He had ducked out the door a few moments before but I knew he could still hear me.

"He doesn't like me."

"No, he's mad at me." I climbed backwards onto the bed and flopped down again. Lucas joined me, sitting nearby. "Don't be surprised if you spot a tiger roaming around."

Lucas didn't even bother saying anything and busied himself trying to get Milo settle down so he could pet him. "I take it it had something to do with that whole…" He threw one of his hands up and waved it around.

"Yup. He's a horrible person and I would have been much happier if I just woken up in hell." He tossed his cap onto the floor and ran his fingers through his messy hair, his unspoken comment hanging between us. It would have been all too easy to just not come back. One thing could lead to another and before I knew it years could have passed. It was a nice thought, but I was almost certain Sebastian wouldn't have let me go that easily. From that display earlier I assumed he'd do everything in his power to keep me here. If anything some time apart could do us a bit of good. Clear the air and whatnot.

When Milo flopped over onto his back, Lucas pulled his hand back, "He's not gonna like, bite me or anything, is he?"

I glanced at the lethargic cat beside me and shook my head. "You don't have to worry about him." Milo's purrs filled the room when Lucas rubbed his stomach and we sat in the silence for awhile. There wasn't much to really catch up on, but we never really felt the need to fill the silence.

I closed my eyes and sighed softly. Going back would have been the right thing to do right? I mean, I should go back and at least make sure my brother was okay. But every time something like this happened there was always some sort of ulterior motives. I wasn't saying I wanted to stay here either, but would making the trip back, just to find out nothing was even wrong with him, be worth it? No. Definitely not. Then I might have had to do something else entirely.

I don't think my situation with Sebastian would ever improve either if I kept running off every time something got difficult. But if I thought about it, there wasn't really a need for us to get closer. The marriage could be a sham like most of the ones I've seen amongst the royals. They put on face for the public then in private they went their own ways and stayed out of each other's business. That was the only thing I could see really working at this point. We weren't compatible in even the slightest.

I started when Lucas smacked my chest suddenly and sat up. Precious was crouched a few feet away studying him. If he tried something not she might have pounced on me. "What am I supposed to do about it?"

He flailed his hands uselessly. "You're the cat! Talk to it." He turned and firmly stated, "I am not food." I almost would have believed him if his voice hadn't cracked.

Sighing I moved in-between the pair and stared her down. Her tail swung from side to side and she huffed, seeming to be fully prepared to tackle me instead. Her ears suddenly flicked towards the door and Pyros poked his head in. "Dinner is ready."

Lucas slid to the floor and waited out on the landing for me. Precious sauntered down the stairs ahead of us with Pyros so we were left to make it to the dining room by ourselves. "So it's just you three here?"

"Four, well five if you count yourself."

"And here I was thinking I'd have to break out bible verses or something to protect myself."

I let him have his fun for a few seconds before glancing over at him and replying, "They wouldn't have worked anyway."

His eyes widened and froze in his tracks, for a moment his whole world shattered around him and he grabbed my arm. "What do you mean?"

"What I said. Just stick with me and you'll be fine."

Lucas pouted. "You've been gone a few days and you're already an expert on this stuff."

"Actually I'm not. It's a learning experience."

He his his face in my shoulder and sighed. "This is one thing I don't need to learn. When Demons attack I'm going to get drunk and hope I've done just enough good to squeeze into Limbo. I sure as hell ain't an angel." He fell silent as we entered the small dining room and glanced at Draco who was sitting on the windowsill again. Currently his snake was a white one with sharp looking scales. Why do all of them look so venomous?

Lucas smirked and sat down closest to the window. "Look Adrian, it's your favorite animal!"

I glared at him as he grabbed one of the charred rolls and broke it open. Pyros laughed nervously. "Sorry about that, I left them in the oven too long."

"Adrian had made worse."

I didn't respond and made a point to dump my carrots onto his plate. He always ate them for me at home, and now wasn't going to be any different. "Don't drag me into this."

Pyros smiled and asked, "I didn't know you liked snakes."

Draco rolled his eyes and I shook my head, knowing Lucas was just waiting for his moment to shine. "He hates them. Me and my brother use to always throw little garden ones in the hay while he was sleeping then we'd go in the house and wait. He started crying one time and our mom yelled at us, but we kept doing it. Eventually he refused to sleep in the hayloft with us and we had to stop."

"It's not funny. One of them bit me."

"You're still here aren't you?"

I shrugged, "dunno, ask me again in a couple days." Draco's snake hissed suddenly and he closed his eyes, seeming tired. Don't tell me Sebastian already took it all out on him.

Lucas glanced up when Sebastian entered and busied himself eating my carrots. I couldn't say I blamed him for not wanting an excuse to say anything. "I assume you shall be going home tomorrow, correct?"

This is weird. Earlier he seemed ready rip my head off and now it was like nothing had happened. Unless he was purposely trying to pretend it hadn't. If he was trying to make me feel better this wasn't the way to go about it. Although we both appeared to be stubborn people and talking calmly didn't feel like an option right now. I wasn't sure I was ready to face him on my own. "Yes."

Lucas furrowed his brow but didn't say anything and stared at his plate. It was nice knowing I wasn't the only one thinking I wasn't going home. "Is there anything you would like me to prepare for your journey."

"No, we're fine."

"Make sure you get some rest; it's a long journey." I nodded and eyed Lucas as he chewed thoughtfully. The door clicked shut again and Draco stood as if he had been silently summoned. Although I doubted that was the case. I didn't want him to get yelled at again because of me. "I'll be right back."

I slipped out after Draco and caught up with Sebastian, silently thankful he had gone in a different direction. When he stopped suddenly and glanced back at me, I froze and found myself struggling to form complete thoughts. Even before all of this he was so intimidating. "I… Look I'm…" I sighed softly and stared at the floor, wondering if turning around and asking him to forget it would be worth it. I'd have to talk to him eventually. I'd rather have it be now than later. At least, if I got this out of the way now, I wouldn't have to worry about him being mad at me while I was gone. "Sorry."

He smiled and glanced down at me, gently rubbing one of my ears. "Think nothing of it. You have nothing to apologize for." What the hell? Where is all of this coming from?

"What do you mean?"

"You are going through a lot of changes right now. Humans tend to be greatly affected by these things and when they have had enough they lash out. I'm not surprised given your background. You can have all the space you need presently."

"Okay?"

He tipped his head to the side and furrowed his brow slightly. "You seem confused."

"I… just didn't think you'd be so fine with all of this. I mean, I have no idea when I'll be back."

"It's not your fault someone has fallen ill, you can't help it. And just because I'm not there, it doesn't mean I won't be able to keep an eye on you. If you find yourself in trouble don't hesitate to call me."

I unconsciously placed my hand over the mark on my neck and laughed nervously. "Uh, thanks."

"It's no trouble. Go eat before your food gets cold. I'll see you off in the morning."

I nodded and slowly headed back to the dining room. That was weird… it's like he doesn't care at all. I thought he'd have something to say other than some sort of logical response. Didn't he care at all? I could never come back if my brother passed, but… what if he never actually came to get me. I didn't want him to want me to go home. But what choice did I have now? This is a disaster.

Gus Kinney: there we have it what is up with the book what about the souls? you will find out as the story keeps on trunkin


	7. The Tower

Gus Kinney: Hello we are close to the end people so lets just see where it goes from here this is chapter 7 and i call it The Tower

"It's way too early for this." I stretched again and yawned, but Lucas paid me no mind and continued across the entry hall.

"If you had it your way we wouldn't leave until after noon."

"What's wrong with that?"

Lucas glanced back at me, exasperated and not amused. "You're awfully cheeky for someone claiming its too early to be up."

I rested my hand on top of my head and beamed. "It's never too early to be cheeky." The sun had barely risen before Lucas had dragged me out of bed. If I had known he was going to wake me at the crack of dawn I would have went to bed a lot earlier.

When he pushed open the door I blinked a few times in the sudden brightness and waited for my eyes to adjust. Lucas slipped outside in my moments hesitation and by the time I had rejoined him he was already halfway to the unused stables. Would it kill him to slow down a little? His eagerness to be gone was obvious, but I still hadn't resolved any conflicting feelings about being so quick to leave. It seemed kind of late to be deciding all of this now. Sebastian was probably already prepared for me to be gone. Who knew if he was even there now. Whatever he had gone to take care of the other day seemed to have put him in a bad mood, and maybe it wasn't completely resolved. "It feels like I've been here for years."

I rolled my eyes and rested against the wall nearby. I felt the exact opposite. It had been painfully obvious this trip was. If anything it felt for more like a weekend trip to the country. Except I was supposed to be living here now. I didn't really know what I wanted, but I was pretty sure this wasn't it. If Sebastian hadn't been so quick to get rid of me maybe I wouldn't have agreed in the first place. "Where the hell did my horse go?"

Without really thinking I blurted out, "Maybe Sebastian fed it to you last night."

Lucas came barreling out of the somewhat dilapidated structure and shook my by my shoulders. "My mom's going to kill me if I don't bring him back! We have to find him!"

His shrill voice made my ears ring and I had to push him back a few few feet. "Calm down, something like that doesn't just disappear. I'm sure we'll find it. If not I will give you mother enough money to buy three more horses just like him."

Lucas didn't seem convinced, but I had enough confidence for the both of us. We turned to find Pyros making his way across the courtyard with Lucas' grey horse and a larger black one. Lucas visibly relaxed as he half-jogged over to him. I followed at a much slower pace, still not that eager to get on the road. "I heard you two were looking for these." Pyros looked at me and smiled before adding, "This one is yours. Sebastian said it was a going away present."

Lucas stroked his horses nose and was cooing too it, pretending it had just wandered off instead of being moved. The horse Sebastian was trying to give me looked down at me and snorted, stamping a hoof. He was obviously less than impressed but it didn't matter to me. If the horse didn't want to bring me home it wasn't my problem. It was my father's. "Don't worry, I'll be back reaping havoc on you three again in no time." I took the reins and half-jokingly added, "He's not going to start breathing fire is he?"

Pyros' earnest laughter filled hte courtyard and I had to take a step back to retain my balance when he clasped me on the shoulder. "Of course not, you wouldn't be able to handle something like that."

I pretended not to notice Lucas' look of horror and forced out a small smiled, "right, of course not."

Lucas walked his horse away a couple feet before struggling into its saddle and set off at a somewhat brisk walk. "I'll be seeing you, I guess."

Pyros nodded and lowered his gaze to the ground, his sudden good mood evaporated. "Don't be a stranger." He can't really be that sad about me going can he? I've only been here a few days.

I climbed into the horse's saddle and guided it forward. Although it felt the need to assert who was in charge because it pranced a few circles around Pyros before slowly following after Lucas. Once I was sure Pyros was out of earshot I firmly stated, "You're just like your master. I ought to give you back when I return." It snorted and bobbed its head in response, seeming to like the idea. This is going to be a long day.

Pyros hesitant poked his head into the front sitting room and informed me that Adrian had left. Although I had a nice vantage point from where I was, he must have had something to say. "So I saw." Early morning light was just beginning to creep through the windows, but it wasn't enough to have much effect. I didn't think I'd ever see Adrian up and about this early, let alone expect him to leave. But I supposed his friend was at fault for that. He seemed to have more sense than Adrian did.

I would have liked to been able to see Adrian off myself, but I figured it best to leave things as they were for the time being. I needed a couple days to straighten everything out. By time he got back I'm sure we could be on the same page. Or at least, I could coax him into believing we were. After yesterday I would have thought he could have figure out just what I had been planning to do with him but I suppose that wasn't the case. Adrian may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but when it came down to it, he could make it seem like he knew what he was talking about even if he didn't. I don't think he himself understood half the things that came out of his mouth until a few hours later. He may have been a handful at times, but at the end of the day it was worth it. "How long do you think he'll be gone."

I continued to stare out at the empty courtyard. "It depends on how long it takes for his brother to die."

I glanced back at Pyros to gauge his reaction. His orange eyes widened and he seemed to grow more agitated by the news than I had anticipated. I returned my gaze to the outside world and studied his reflection in the glass. That obnoxious reaper could be good some some things. It didn't get much to get him to tell me Adrian's brother was on the to die list. However getting rid of him was the hard part. He'd keep popping up whenever it convinced him and then I would be stuck with him until he had to go reap a soul or William dragged him back to dispatch.

Pyros took a step hesitant step into the empty room and bit his bottom lip. "You mean his brother is actually going to die?"

"Yes, it would appear so. Unless he's magically going to come up with something that will be worthy of going down in the history books for the next century in the next few days." His brow furrowed and I reassured him, or tried to. "He'll be gone a month, maybe two at most. It depends on if he can tolerate staying for the funeral or not. Maybe less if that fool of a king is going to redirect all the attention to something else."

Pyros nodded again but remained where he was. He doesn't know how to be subtle does he? I sighed softly and let the curtain fall into place before turning. "What is is this time?"

"What if he doesn't come back at all?"

"Then I'll have to drag him back here by force. There is a reason I marked him. If he happens to wander, or be shipped off somewhere, Adrian will end up very disappointed. Or perhaps relieved depending on the circumstances."

"Then why'd you even bother letting him go in the first place?" He shook his head and turned to leave, adding mostly to himself, "I don't understand why you do anything you do." Neither do I, but I suppose thats half the fun.

We pass under the gates to the capitol well after nightfall. My legs and lower back were a bit sore from riding all day, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't deal with when I got home. Lucas stopped and started turning his horse. "I'm going to go bring the horse back. I'll see you around I guess."

"Yeah, but Lucas." I paused and watched him trot back towards the country. Everything felt so wrong. The streets were practically empty, and there hadn't been any guards by the gates, or anywhere else it seemed. The streets were never this empty or still this early. It couldn't be much past nine. This whole thing is so frustrating. I had half a mind to deem the castle vacated and go spend the night at Lucas' house. Then I could go back and pretend this never happened. I struggled to navigate the dark streets, and eventually slide off the saddle and led it through the winding pathways. There wasn't a speck of light coming from any of the buildings I passed. What did everybody just up and die?

If there had been some sort of outbreak the gates would have been closed and my father wouldn't have dragged me back would he? I mean, I caught this thing and I wasn't even here. I was fine in a couple days. The horse whinnied and started trying to pull me backwards. "Oh will you stop. I'll send you back to whatever shadow dimension you came from!"

It reared up and I dropped the reins and jumped to the side. If I was going to die it sure as hell wasn't going to be because Sebastian's 'present' decided to trample me. A choking sound escaped me as I was dragged to the ground by the collar of my shirt. "Looks like the prince is back."

Not these guys again. Three of my typical victims stood over me and sized me up. "How many times to I have to break your nose before you get the message?"

I grabbed his leg as he went to kick me and sprung to my feet once more, subsequently knocking him onto the ground. One of his friends tried grabbing me from behind, but I sidestepped them and backed away so they were all in front of me. The leader was helped off the ground as I tucked my tail into my shirt. The last thing I needed was one of them deciding to pull on it. Then I really would be in trouble. "I wouldn't be talking if I crossed over to the dark side."

"Last time I checked, I was still human." They pulled out relatively small knives and charged. Crouching slightly, I jumped out of the way and grabbed the dominant arm of the closest guy. I felt something shift out of place as I dug my fingers into the joint of his wrist and wrenched his arm backwards. He swore under his breath and I dragged it down with mine as I dodged someone swinging for my head. The leaded fell to the ground with me, and I grabbed his knife as it clattered to the ground. I took a few deep breaths and sat myself behind him while holding the crude blade to his throat. "Lose a fight or lose a leader, take your pick."

The glanced at each other silently and I gave them a little incentive by pressing harder. A thin line of blood trickled down his neck. "Oh no. My hand slipped."

"What are you idiots doing? We'll get him next time."

"No you won't."

He laughed softly and pressed himself against my chest for more room. "If we don't someone else will. There's quite a big bounty on your head."

"Good luck with that one." More blood trickled down his neck as I pressed harder again and the other two decided tonight wasn't the night to be associated with a murder.

"Fine." They slowly backed away with their hands raised and I released their leader, keeping the knife.

"Run along now, your mothers must be worried sick." One of them threw a decent sized rock at me and it bounced off my shoulder and to the ground. I winced slightly and rubbed the point of impact. "You missed!" I started to pull back the collar of my shirt for a better look, but remembered how dark it was and stopped.

"What are you looking at?" The horse snorted and stamped its pawed the ground a few times before prancing off ahead of me. "Oh so you magically know the way."

I climbed on as it kept walking and sighed. A bounty on my head was the least of my problems. Someone had tried kidnapping me before, this wasn't anything new. Plenty of people would like to see my head on a spike. I couldn't say I blamed them. I was far from being a saint. Maybe they were expecting Sebastian to have been killed by now. "You're more of a pain than Sebastian, at least he told me where he was taking me. Unless you talk."

The horse shook its head and I nodded to myself. "Of course not, talking animals would be way too easy." The lights from the castle windows nearly blinded me and I blinked to adjust as the horse pranced into the main courtyard. I slid to the ground and handed the stable boy the reigns, although he seemed shocked to see me standing there. "Prince Adrian, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for my brother."

His eyes widened in fright and he took a step back from me. The dark brown orbs darted around the courtyard and he jumped at every little sound. "I'm so happy you're back!" He shook his head ever so slightly and dropped his voice to something that could barely be considered a whisper. "Leave while you still can. Your father's gone mental. Whatever you had back there is a lot better than what's about to come."

He tried pressing the reigns back into my hand but a guard showed up out of nowhere and he quickly took them back. "What do you think you're doing?"

The small boy jumped and almost fell to the ground in his haste to turn around. "I am going to take the Prince's horse to the stable."

I moved in front of him and added, "If you have a problem with him doing his job then you can take it up with me. I'm in charge of these things in case you haven't forgotten. I ram that sword through your chest while you sleep if you lay a hand on him."

"Your highness such kindness is not necessary, I am very disposable." He bowed and quickly shuffled off to the stabled before the guard had a chance to do anything else.

"I didn't know any scum of the earth could protect the king."

His eyes narrowed from beneath his helmet and I smiled coyly, silently challenging to do something. I was the only remaining heir in good health. If so much as a scratch was put on me I had grounds to fight him. "Run along freak. You don't want to keep your parents waiting."

I made a mental note to check on the stable boy tomorrow and slowly crossed the courtyard. Could everybody had cleared out that fast? Just how bad was he? Most of the people residing here were trading merchants who came and went year round, and those who ran whore houses were probably drowning in money as well. It wouldn't have been that hard for them to buy passage somewhere. But everybody else? Where could they have gone so fast? I never remembered a time where the streets were so empty. Maybe I should just leave tomorrow. I can see my brother, and if he really is on his way out maybe I should go. I couldn't see him like that. He wouldn't notice if I was gone anyway. One of my father's hidden away bastards could take the throne for all I cared, I didn't want it.

I shoved the castle door open and stepped into the brightly lit foyer. I squinted through the harsh lighting and stumbled up the stairs. I wasn't going to go hunting for my father. He was the one who wanted me here, he could come find me.

The cheerfully lit halls were devoid of any movement or life. This is getting out of hand, where the hell is everyone? I turned down one of the halls and snuck into my brother's room. In contrast to the hallway, there wasn't much light in here, but it was enough with the curtains left open. My brother blinked awake and weakly sat up. "I told you a hundred times I'm fine. I can't get any sleep if you keep poking me."

I flopped down beside him and smirked, "Too bad. I'm not so easy to get rid of."

I wormed my way under the blankets as my brother turned to face me. "You actually came."

"Why wouldn't I? Aren't I always looking for excuses to go wandering alone." I turned on my side studying him. He was really pale, and reminded me more of a skeleton than my brother. He had never been like this before. Everytime I saw him he was so lively and energetic. Now it seemed like picking up anything heavier than a spoon would drain him of what little energy he had.

"I didn't think you'd bother. I thought, maybe you'd actually be happy there."

"I was happy here. Well not here specifically but the area outside here."

His weak smile never faded and he reached out to rub one of my ears. I didn't push him away, but settled for crinkling my nose in distaste. "I always like your ears. They suit you." I sighed softly and didn't say anything. Him and Sebastian were the only ones. They were a pain. If they liked them so much they could have them. "Just like a cat."

"If you don't be careful I might bite you like one."

"You couldn't."

I rolled my eyes and studied the white sheets. For someone in his condition he's awfully chipper. I guess he's always like that. Never quick to raise his voice or make judgements, compliant, mindful of others. He really is everything I'm not. I always told Lucas to give me a good smack if I ever started acting like my brother, I guess that was why.

My brother broke out in a coughing fit which lasted for several minutes before he cleared his throat and smiled again. "I remember when you were little and you refused to sleep alone, so you'd always creep in here and sleep with me." He took my hand into his larger, colder one and closed his eyes.

"And then the maids would scramble around trying to find me before mom found out."

"Then you'd come wandering out mad that everybody had woken you up."

"Yeah." I sighed softly and closed my eyes. Even now I didn't like being woken up. I could sleep all day if you let me.

"How is it there?" I opened my eyes to be met with Matt's cloudy brown ones. "I mean, what they said isn't true right?"

"Of course not. He likes cats so I guess thats good."

He weakly squeezed my hand and nodded. "Good. I need to know my brother's going to be taken care of when I'm gone."

"Don't say that! You're going to be fine!"

"I'm not so sure… not this time."

"Too bad, you're coming to my wedding. If I going through the trouble of going through this someone I tolerate has to see it."

He patted my head and shushed me. "Sleep now." Within moments his breathing slowed and he was asleep again, leaving me to watch his small form. He seems to be the only one prepared for his demise. I suppose he didn't have much choice. Maybe he hadn't been able to come up with a reason to not come to terms with it.

I didn't feel like moving to go roam the halls again, so, for once, I followed by brothers advice and closed my eyes again.

Draco slid on the counted next to me but didn't say anything. Milo sat on the floor in front of him and peered up at the cabinets longingly. "Don't even think about it. You got yourself locked in there last time." He meowed and prepared to jump onto the counter, but Draco closed the cabinet back the rest of the way. "Behave."

"You're still going through with this then?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Unlike Pyros, Draco was much more to the point. It was easier to get to the bottom of what he was planning.

"Because you haven't thought this through. He's magic. Even if he doesn't know how to use it, it's still there. If you turn him it'll become obvious and he won't be able to control it. What if he can't even take human form?"

"Your personal feelings are clouding your judgement. I've been at this far longer than you have and ever will." His eyes turned yellow and I noticed his fangs protruding ever so slightly from his mouth. If anyone was to be lecturing me about being in control he had no right to talk. Although he was progressing a lot better than Pyros. His powers in general were a lot less destructive if misused. What was he going to do? Turn into a snake and bit me? Or perhaps misdirect his Basilisk through a wall? A hole was a lot easier to repair than structural damage and put out a fire.

"He didn't even want to be brought here in the first place. Let alone you laying claims to his soul without his consent and now you're going to turn him into a demon? This is pushing boundaries even for you."

Must he always try to serve as the voice of reason? Him pointing out my potentially flawed thinking did nothing in getting me to want to change my mind. "We didn't make a contract, so there's nothing in the wrong. If he wanted it gone so badly, he could have asked me too."

"Something tells me you wouldn't have."

I didn't respond and brought the contents of the pot to a low simmer. Draco was right about that, but I would have at least had the decency to move it someplace Adrian couldn't have seen it. I was simply laying claims to what was mine. This wouldn't be the first time another of my kind had tried stealing a soul out from under my nose. I wasn't willing to risk it. Once was one time too many, and I wasn't about to lose something with this much potential. "Adrian doesn't even know what he wants. If he somehow manages to figure out what I'm planning on doing with him before I do it and asks me to stop I can briefly consider following his wishes."

Draco's shot nails dug into the edge of the wooden counter and his snake hissed softly, picking up on the tension sparking between us. The outline of his jaw became more prominent and I could barely make out his fangs peeking out from under his upper lip. His desire to be involved with this was going to prove to be more trouble than I had originally thought. Although he was more perceptive than I liked to give him credit for most of the time. Having his serpents constantly lurking in the shadows did nothing to help me either. "Do you really think his soul can handle it?"

I didn't respond. As much as I would have liked to have told him yes just to get him to leave, there was no real way to tell. A lot of deciding factors went into magic like this. Asking whether or not his soul could handle it was as vague and useless as a question could get. "It depends on-

"I am not asking you for some logical answer. I am asking you, at first glance, would you think Adrian's soul would be strong enough to handle something like this. As frail and shrouded in anger as it was when you first saw him."

I sighed softly and turned to face him, folding my arms over my chest. "What would you like me to say, yes? It's not as simple as that."

He pulled his hood back and glared at me, his bright green eyes taking on a yellow tint. "Then explain. Seeing as how your lack of communication skills are something Adrian dislikes about you. this can be good practice."

Venom seeped into his tone but I didn't take any of his empty displays as a threat. I let my eyes return to their natural color. It wasn't really for the sake of intimidation, Draco was much too strong willed for that, but it was more to show who was actually in control here. He was shifting because his emotions were getting the best of him. The tension between us would only get worse and if some sort of agreement couldn't be reached, who knows what would happen in the next few days. "A lot of things determine what happen when a soul goes through something like this. As of right now, I give him a 30 percent chance of survival." A low hiss escaped him, but he did nothing else to interrupt or provoke me. "Now if he manages to grow up and come to terms with what's going on and perhaps think a little I can firmly say his chances go up to 90%."

"And you honestly think something like that is just going to magically happen overnight?" I grabbed Mio off the counter before he had chance to 'investigate' what I was brewing and dropped the cover over the pot for good measure. He let out a plaintive mew and squirmed around a bit before settling with his front paws on my shoulder. "I think that if you leave him alone for long enough, Adrian becomes capable of extraordinary things."

Draco's eyes quickly returned to their normal color and he pulled his hood up again as footsteps duly echoed off the corridor outside. He slid of the counter and turned his back on me, "For his sake, I hope you're right."

Pyros opened the door and poked his head in, smiling cheerfully. The previous melancholy he was in seemed to have faded completely. How does he manage to switch back and forth so efficiently? "I was wondering where you guys had wandered off to. Are you done fighting?"

Draco shrugged and slipped past him, leaving me to be the spokesperson for the both of us. In all honesty, the real answer lied within the outcome of Adrian's transformation. For Pyros' sake I smiled and nodded. "Yes, we managed to get everything sorted out."

I started awake when I was forcibly dragged out of my bed and jolted upright, knocking foreheads with one of the maids. She hissed in pain and another on scolded, "What do you think you're doing here? You're going to get yourself sick and your brother needs his rest."

I rolled my eyes and waited for my vision to clear, "I already had it, I doubt I'm going to catch it again so soon."

My brother shifted in his sleep, at least I thought he was still sleeping. Only he sat up and groggily asked me where I was going while rubbing one of his eyes. "Funny, I was thinking the same thing."

"Your brother is just going to stir up trouble. You need rest and he needs to leave." I climbed back onto the bed and paid the flustered women no mind. My brother pulled me into his lap and ran his fingers through my hair when I closed my eyes again. "I'm tired of sleeping, besides he's not going to hurt anybody."

I started purring for extra effect. I didn't quite know what time it was, but I was still exhausted so it meant too early for me. There wasn't even enough sunlight to adequately light the room. I started awake again the when the door burst open, but kept my eyes closed. "Did you find him yet?"

I recognized the voice as belonging to the guard from last night, and shifted uncomfortably. Out of all the guards in this asshole just had to be the one to be sent to look for me. My brother shifted underneath me and started coughing again. All the maids starting hovering, adjusting pillows and making sure my brother had enough water. Sebastian was nothing compared to this. I had a fever and he made sure I had water and extra blankets. All this unnecessary pillow fluffing and asking if I was okay would probably make me feel worse. No wonder he's looks like hell. He keeps getting prodded awake every two hours.

I latched onto the nearest thing I could when someone started dragging me out of bed, but the sheets just went with me. My brother looked like he was about to start crying as the guard threw me over his shoulder. "I don't want to be all alone in here. Put him down."

I was crudely dropped onto the floor in the hallway and the guard stared down at me. "Your brother can come back when you're feeling better."

"Just five more minutes." Wanting to keep my brother happy, they cleared the room out and let me have a bit more time with my brother.

"Sorry about all that."

I shrugged and settled myself on the bed next to him. It wasn't like they didn't have reason to distrust me, but even I had the decency to behave when the situation demanded it. My brother took my hands in his suddenly and pulled me closer to him. "Adrian, I need you to listen to me." He dropped his voice to a low whisper and paused, waiting for some sign that I was listening. Matt didn't continue until I nodded slightly. What's gotten into him all of the sudden? "No matter what happens next, I don't want you to be stuck here and have to do something you don't want to do. Run away if that's what it will take, but you can't stay here."

"What are you talking about? Just what happened?" Matt had never been one to tell me to just abandon my responsibilities. He seemed to be the only one in my family who hadn't given up on me yet. For him to tell be something like this, something big must have been brewing, only I had no idea what. Maybe we're going to war again.

He shook his head and gazed at me intently. "Promise me." It felt like he was just looking past me, like I wasn't even there in the first place. It seemed like my brother wasn't really seeing me at all and was looking at a younger version of himself. I had no idea my brother had been unhappy here. He always seemed so cheerful and I couldn't really remember a time he wasn't smiling. Something like this was completely out of character for him. Maybe his fever was high enough to make him hallucinate. "Please Adrian! For me?"

The desperation in his voice chilled me and I couldn't do anything but say yes. "Okay, yes, I'll go."

"I mean it. Go, right now. Say you'll go talk to father and just leave. I don't want to see you again. I can go happy if I know you're going to be okay."

I tried masking my sudden sadness with anger, and pulled away, "I get it, you don't have to keep telling me."

A small smile crept across his face as I stood and he fell back onto the pillows. "Good. If not I might have to come back and haunt you."

"Oooo, what are you going to do? Move the cats into my room?"

He laughed weakly and closed his eyes as the door cracked open once again, "don't tempt me." I slipped out before anybody could try to grab hold of me again and made it seem like I was heading further into the castle. Whatever my brother didn't want me to know about, it seemed like I was better off staying in the dark. It would obviously have to do with why this place looked like it was about to be wiped off the map. I didn't want to stick around long enough to find out. What was the point in coming if my brother was just going to send me away? I might as well have just stayed. Hell I would have if it didn't feel like Sebastian was throwing me out. I didn't think it was possible to cling to someone and try to throw them away at the same time. Did he really enjoy playing with me that much? Was this all just a game to him? I found myself rubbing his mark and bitterly thought, maybe I should go some place else. I'll sell his horse and buy myself passage over seas.

I cut through several servant hallways and started across the courtyard when my father came at me from the opposite direction. "Adrain! I'm so happy you're here! I knew you'd come see your brother in his time of need."

A frustrated sigh escaped me and I slowly turned to face him. Every damn time! I could sneak out perfectly fine at night when there were more guards, but for some inconceivable reason I couldn't sneak out in daylight when nobody was around. "Such a nice horse that man gave to you. I wouldn't expect anything less."

"What do you want? I want apples and I'll only eat them from this one nice lady."

My father draped his arm over my shoulder and steered me back inside. I cringed as his sudden display and tried freeing myself to no avail. I never liked when he tried to get all touchy-feely. It meant he was about to make me mad and become offended when I did so. Dealing with it was exhausting. "Nonsense, the ones we have are good enough. And we have something to discuss in private."

"I'm busy, and Sebastian needs his horse back. We're going on a trip."

"Don't worry about that. It'll get back soon enough." No lie I could come up with could get me out of this. I didn't know what my father was getting at, but I was starting to get nervous. Normally I could read him like a book, he was too obvious and always dropped hints at what he was thinking. Now it was like I was trying to break into a stronghold, he was guarded and whatever was inside was something crucial. I wish I had stayed there…

My father didn't start talking again until we were almost to his study. By then I had worked myself up and I had no idea why. My father always did this, it wasn't anything new, so why was I getting so freaked out. "Now then. The time has come for you to begin your new life."

I glared at him, unimpressed with his new, cheery outlook on my life. "Isn't that what I was doing last week?"

"Nonsense, that was just a business arrangement. We're onto something much more important here."

"Much more important than my marriage?" If my father was getting at what I thought he was getting at, I was about to drop some misleading information myself. Two could play at this game and I was obviously the more experienced player.

"This does involve your impending nuptials, meaning I've found you a much more suitable partner, namely a princess from Osmium."

I rolled my eyes. It was a fairly large mining kingdom, named after its most common export but there was nothing there to see. I've been there twice and have done and saw literally everything. "You're joking."

"I'm not."

I folded my arms over my chest and stepped closer to his large desk. "You can't just sell me off again! First you give me to a demon and now you're shipping me off to the boonies? Make up your damn mind old man! And you know what, you can't because we're already married!"

"Something like that can easily be fixed. It's not official, and you can't prove it. You don't even have a ring."

"I have something more binding." I pulled back the collar on my shirt to show him the mark on my neck and added, "He owns me body and soul. And I don't even like women!" My father's face turned bright red from rage and a smug smirk worked its way onto my face. Whatever hole I had just dug myself into, I was fully prepared to be buried in it.

"Wesley, put my son in the tower until he's ready to be more cooperative."

The door burst open and I was forcibly dragged out kicking and screaming. As I was being dragged down the hallway, I figured I'd get it all out of my system, now. "You're just angry because I'm your wife's bastard and you have to pretend I'm legitimate! It's your own fault for wanting another son!"

My fathers guard dragged me into the corner of the wall and continued dragging my by the collar of my shirt until we reached the stairs. where I was forced to walk the distance to solitary confinement. I made the process difficult, pausing for long periods and eventually it got to the point where I was constantly being prodded into proceeding forward.

I was shoved into the circular room and the door was bolted shut behind me. Damn him. I'll get him back for this.

The door creaking open was nothing more than a background noise. I didn't even bother turning around as a metal plate fell to the floor. "Still not eating?"

I twitched one of my ears as response and returned to staring at the bricks that made up the wall. "It's been three days, you can't keep this up forever. Someone's gonna cram it down your throat or you're going to die."

A slight tail twitch this time. Words were too much of a reward for him. He wanted to get a reaction out of me, and I wasn't going to give him one. My brother was dead and I was being shipped off again. I didn't even know if Sebastian would bother coming to get me. Why would he? He sent me here in the first place so why even bother? There was no point to any of this.

"Sulking isn't going to get you anywhere. You're going to cave eventually." The door creaked shut again and the bolt was slid home, leaving me alone in my patch of sunlight. I didn't realize it had been so long, but even then, I couldn't summon the strength to move. I felt numb, and my limbs felt like they were made out of lead. Whatever spark I used to have had been snuffed out. I couldn't see a point to doing anything. I already knew what I'd be stuck doing the rest of my life, and I had no say. Nothing but monotonous days dealing with petty problems and speaking with someone I didn't want to be around.

Worst part of all was I actually started missing Sebastian. I mean, who the hell starts missing someone who does nothing but frustrate them? I couldn't think of anything nice to say about him, but at the same time it felt like he was the only person who could drag me out of this. He always did. Whatever it was, he always dragged up the most childish impulses in me. I wanted to act out just to get his attention and then we could argue some more. I'd get frustrated and walk off yes, but then we'd be right back to square one. Although presently I supposed I was at less than square one. I didn't know what was even possibly but here I sat. Lucas was wrong when he said I was locked away in a tower the other day, because this is more confining than being there could ever be.

I want to go back, I can't stand this. I might as well be a child. At least then I wouldn't understand what was going on. My father didn't want me around while everyone was trying to throw him off his throne. He might have been afraid I would help them. After this I was rather tempted too. Just once more I want to see him. Even if it's as I being thrown on that damned boat. Why? Why couldn't you have just told me to stay.

I forced myself into a sitting position and quickly dried my face on my sleeve. Crying wasn't about to get me anywhere. And crying over someone as stupid as Sebastian was even worse. Damn you Sebastian, I hope you pop out of the void so I have an excuse to yell at you.

A shadow fell over me suddenly and I glanced outside, figuring there'd be a could or something. Sebastian bent over me and smiled, his eyes flashing that bright pink color again, "you called, Adrian?"

Gus Kinney: man with all the stuff thats going on i think Adrian will have to make a choice until next time peace


	8. What do you want?

Gus Kinney: Hello everyone i'm back with chapter 8 i call this one What do you want?

"You called, Adrian?" Sebastian smiled down at me and the cloud of hopelessness that had threatened to swallow me quickly disappeared. How the hell did he do that? When I asked him to pop out of the void I didn't mean literally!

"How…" I looked at the door behind him to find it still bolted shut and peered up at him. "What the hell is going on?"

"It's nice to see you too."

I sat up and glared at him. It was nice to know he hadn't become any less avoidance while I was gone. "How the hell did you do that? Don't tell me you can walk through walls."

Sebastian sighed and continued to ignore me. He seemed more concerned about my current state of being than answering any of my questions. "Have you fallen ill again? Don't tell me you have caught what your brother had?"

"What? No, I'm simply protesting?"

He crouched down in front of me and tipped his head to the side in a quizzical manor. "Just what are you protesting?"

I sighed softly and flopped back onto the floor. Sitting up required a lot more energy than I had originally thought. "It doesn't matter now. I can stop."

"Your protest involved me."

"I guess you could say that." I lazily twitched my tail back and forth to some unknown melody floating through my head and closed my eyes. "Before we go, I need you to do something for me."

"I think I'd rather remove you first."

I yawned and shook my head. I knew if that happened Sebastian would just put off listening to me until he had no choice. I may not have been in top condition right now, but my brain was still almost fully functional. Although I did want to sleep most of the time. And doing much more than lying here was exhausting. Right now I could probably fall asleep if Sebastian didn't respond for long enough. "You are going to steal my brother's body. We are then going to go burn it in the woods so he can have a proper burial, and my father can have his pick of what to be angered about: my being gone, or the fact that I am gone with his favorite son's body." I quickly lost interest in the subject and opened my eyes again to ask, "Hey do you know what's going on around here? I haven't seen anybody in ages."

Sebastian sighed and put a hand to his forehead, already seeming frustrated with me. It hadn't even been ten minutes! ...or had it? "I would assume that is because you've been locked in here for quite some time." I got distracted by a moving light on the wall and watched it. It was probably from one of his buttons, but one could never be too careful with such things. Maybe if it gets just a little closer… "Adrian focus."

"I am focused." Just a little more…

"No you aren't." I smack my hand over it and peered back at Sebastian, "What were you saying?"

His eyes flashed pink and he took me into his arms. "We are going home and you are going to eat something before taking a nice long nap."

"I don't want a nap, I want to…" I trailed off as he un clipped the chain from some weird amulet thing and waved it in front of me. "Stop that! I'm trying to…" He dropped it on my chest and pulled it away when I tried grabbing it. "Stop… I'm trying to… stop moving it!"

The room got dark again before it brightened slightly, and Sebastian finally let me have it. Just in case he would try to take it again, I tucked it in my pocket. "Now then. Back to what I was saying… Wait, how did we get here?" I looked around my tower (the one I actually liked being in) confused. I didn't remember leaving. And I was almost certain I would have noticed him dragging me through a portal. "You can't just distract me and then expect me to not notice! I'm not stupid." I place my hand on top of my tail since it couldn't seem to stop moving and I didn't want my point to be made not true by my attention being directed to the movement.

"I never said you were."

"Well you're treating me like I am. And You can't just let me have something shiny and expect me to not get mad. It won't work."

He smiled and removed the necklace from my pocket. "This is yours." Sebastian easily balance me in one arm as he slid the weird trinket over my neck. I couldn't quite make out what it was supposed to be, I recognized the smell of some of the herbs, but I didn't know what it was actually supposed to be. I didn't really excel with herbs either. It was too much of a pain to memorize all the plants.

"Thank you?" I studied the amulet closely, and managed to make out a pentagram mixed in with all the other lines and squiggles mixed in that probably meant something. Not that I would know, the dark arts was far beyond my realm of knowledge. Why was he always doing stuff like this? It didn't make any sense. "How come you're always so nice to me?"

"As opposed to what?" He tried putting me down again, but I wrapped my legs around his waist so he couldn't. Sebastian sighed softly and sat on the edge of the bed.

I shrugged, drawing a blank. People always did things for a reason, that was the first thing I learned...well maybe not the first, walking and talking came first, but it was one of the first. "It's weird, nobody's really done it before. Well Lucas' mom does but she might as well be my mom so I don't think she really counts…"

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sebastian glanced down at me when I put my head on his shoulder but didn't say anything. His eyes were still pink, but I suppose that's how they normally looked. I kinda like them better like this…"Pardon?"

I shook my head slightly and closed my eyes, wondering if I had said that out loud or not. It didn't really seem to matter at this point, Sebastian probably hadn't understood what I was talking about anyway. This time I let Sebastian lay me on the bed, but once he turned to go I impulsively grabbed his wrist. After everything I couldn't bring myself to watch him go. I wasn't ready to be alone yet. "Can't you stay? Just five more minutes, please?"

I intertwined our fingers and peered up at him expectantly. Sebastian crouched in front of me and I managed a small smile. He gently pulled his hand out of mine and brushed back some of my hair. I closed my eyes again when he stroked my cheek. "I'll stay as long as you want me to."

Slipping my fingers in-between his again, I held his hand to the side of my face. My skin warmed from his touch and a familiar rumbling in my chest joined soon after. I could feel myself slipping away, so before I wound up falling asleep I asked, "Will you still be here when I wake up?"

"If that's what you wish."

"Promise?"

He kissed my forehead and I could hear the smile in his voice when he replied, "Of course, I'll stay as long as you want me to."

Even after falling asleep, Adrian wasn't very willing to let my hand go. It took some coaxing and a lot of promises I was most likely about to break. If I left now perhaps it would seem like I had never been gone in the first place, but it was a big stretch. It depended on how long Adrian stayed asleep. I gave his head once final pat before rising and heading for the door. Just in case he did wake up, I wanted Draco to keep an eye on him. Since he seemed so inclined to remain involved with this, he could babysit while I was gone.

Milo wandered in when I opened the door and climbed up onto the bed as if Adrian had never left in the first place. Maybe I shouldn't have let him go, this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't. Adrian's friend didn't seem to think it would be a good idea if he left, even if humans did have their rituals, I'd rather have him sulking in his room than running off and nearly getting himself killed. He's no good to me dead.

Draco was waiting for me at the bottom of the tower steps, if he wasn't standing in a patch of light I could have used the word lurking. He always seemed to be doing that, it didn't seem to matter what was going on. He seemed to be the embodiment of 'seen but not heard'. "You're back."

It wasn't so much of an observation as a statement, meaning someone had come looking for me while I was gone. "Yes, I am. What makes you say that."

One of his snakes hissed but Draco didn't pay them any mind. "Your… protege was looking for you. I said you were back in hell but that obviously isn't the case." His green eyes flicked towards the stairs in acknowledgement.

"I thought you would be happy Adrian is back in one piece." Draco shrugged, not wanting to let me on to his train of thought. "Speaking of Adrian, if he wakes up while I'm gone, make sure he eats something. Not too much, otherwise he'll get sick, and make sure he drinks plenty of water. I doubt he'll wake up anytime soon, but just in case."

"I can't. Have Pyros do it, my father's waiting for me, and I know you like keeping tabs on your underlings."

I sighed softly, but nodded. "Do what you must." Pyros was the last person I wanted to watch Adrian, he was reckless and a bit overenthusiastic, but I didn't have much of a choice. Draco slipped off into the shadows, leaving me to track down Pyros. I suppose I don't have to tell him. Adrian will probably sleep well into the evening and I know I won't be gone that long.

I nodded to myself and opened a portal to Adrian's castle once again, only this time it was in the 'king's' chambers. He started when I suddenly wrapped my hand around his throat, and I felt his pulse start to race beneath my fingers. "Did you really think you'd get away with this?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

His pulse jumped again, although I didn't need to make a note of that to know he was lying. He wasn't keeping his son locked in the tower on a whim. Even if I didn't know what was going on, it was all to easy to squeeze it out of him. Literally and metaphorically. "Don't play stupid, you're already lacking intelligence, no need to pretend you are more stupid than you already are."

Anger flashed in his eyes and he adjusted himself in his chair, straightening up as if he could intimidate me when I was a… muscle twitch away from snapping his neck. "That's not what your son told me. I don't like having my play things taken from me, I'm quite childish in that aspect."

"It's not stealing if he was mine to begin with… I simply… loaned you my son so he would come to his senses. Only he didn't. He even had the gall to say you had already married him. Such a thin wouldn't be recognized anywhere even if it was true."

I lifted him slightly, and forced him to look into my eyes. "Arrogant fool, why would I not take an insurance policy on him? He is mine, and marriage is what it takes for humans to realize such things. I am not your loyal dog, and you would do well to remember that. It'll be a cold day in hell before I allow myself to be used by someone as impudent as you. I assure you, If you so much as think about laying a hand on Adrian again I'll come back and end your pathetic existence and personally drag you down to the depths of hell, am I clear."

His heart skipped a few beats, and he made some pathetic choking sound, but it may have been from briefly cutting off his airway. Nothing a few deep breaths couldn't cure, and my point was made.

Releasing him, I stepped back and smiled, "It's nice to know we're on the same page. Don't be surprised if your son's body goes missing."

"You can't-

He started when I opened my eyes and inched his chair back towards the wall. "What can't I do?"

"Nothing, I said nothing." He laughed nervously and I phased through the wall. Stupid human. I should burn this place to the ground.

I turned when Sebastian opened the door and yawned, still groggy from my somewhat nap. I hadn't been able to fall asleep since I found Sebastian gone. "You lied."

He paused, seeming to briefly wonder what he had lied about. Geez, how much truth stretching does he do? Sebastian smiled when he sat on the edge of the bed and brushed some of my hair back. His eyes roamed over my face, but he didn't seem to find anything there upsetting, and his eyes softened slightly. "I thought I'd make something for you to eat."

I sighed softly, and idly twitched the tip of my tail. Sebastian probably thought this was the first time I had woken up. "Pyros already tried, but I wasn't in the mood to ea. Where'd you go?"

I grabbed his hand, wanting something to do with my own hands, and waited for a response. He seemed a bit surprised, then his eyes flashed red for a moment, then he coolly replied, "I went to retrieve your brother. Then I went to start your dinner." Humming thoughtfully, I started tracing the lines on his mark. Something told me that wasn't all he went to do, but asking going to get me an answer. "Why didn't you eat anything?"

I shrugged, trying to come up with an excuse. I was still exhausted when he came in, I wanted to sleep not eat. The grapes he had brought me were still sitting on the nightstand. I had drank some water though. "I didn't really want grapes. They aren't on my list of preferred fruits."

"Do you want me to get you something else."

"If you're making dinner why would I eat now? Unless you aren't really making it."

Sebastian glared at me, and sighed, pulling his hand away to cup my face between them. "Because you haven't eaten in three days and your body needs time to adjust."

There's still something he's not telling me… Purposely not cooperating, I propped one of my legs up and swayed it back and forth. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I don't think so."

He let out an irritated huff and explained, "You have been gone four days. One of them was needed to reach your castle."

I smirked and grabbed his hand again, "I know, I was just testing you. I didn't think you'd really notice I was gone." I paused briefly, trying to gauge his reaction, but there didn't seem to me one. Sebastian's red-brown eyes narrowed slightly but that was about it. "I guess I was wrong."

"Why would I not notice?"

I shrugged again, not wanting to dwell on the subject. I didn't think he was serious about all that 'call me if you need me' stuff. I had to give him credit out of everything he's promised that seemed to be the only thing he kept consistent. "What are you making?"

He smiled and ran his fingers through my hair, occasionally rubbing one of my ears. "Now who's the one changing the subject?"

I bit my bottom lip, wondering where he was going with this. "You?"

"Nonsense." He reached over me and pulled a grape from the bunch and fed it to me. I felt I didn't have much of a choice, so even if I didn't want it saying no wasn't an option.

After I had swallowed, I replied, "I like them better peeled."

"Is that so?"

I nodded and closed my eyes as Sebastian peeled a couple grapes for me. He had been right about not eating something. I could already feel the strength returning to my limbs. Although it didn't mean I didn't want to go to sleep again. "Did you miss me?"

"Yes."

"You didn't need to think much about that one huh."

"Why should I have to think about it? It's been far too quiet around and I feared for Milo's safely since Draco was letting his vipers roam the house."

I felt my eyes widen and sat up. I hadn't heard anything in here all day, but still. Could snakes even climb stairs? Sebastian smiled and peered over at me. "They're all back where they belong."

"Still…" I put my head in his lap and peered up at him. My stomach had started to hurt again and food was the last thing I wanted. Sebastian rested his hand on top of mine and I could feel his eyes on me. How come he isn't petting me anymore? His fingers running through my hair was relaxing and I wasn't quite ready to go to sleep yet. Nobody else had really done it before… although I would never really let anybody touch me. They always tried pulling on my ears, or my tail if it wasn't tucked in. It was annoying. For awhile I wore hats, but those only worked so well. "Aren't you going to pet me some more?"

"Perhaps."

Sebastian gazed down at me for a few moments, giving no indication if his answer was going to be a yes or a no. Sighing softly, I grabbed his hand and held it against my face for a few moments. He's awfully warm. "Now?"

"Maybe." What else is there? Slowly sitting up, I draped my arms around his neck and rested my forehead against his. This was as close as I could possibly dare to get to him. At times Sebastian still scared me. I knew I had barely scraped the surface of seeing what he was capable of and if he got his way I'd probably never see all of it.

"Now?"

"Closer." What does he want me to kiss him or something? I felt my heart pounding in my chest and my face turned red. What the hell was I supposed to do? I haven't ever kissed someone. Well… Lucas that one time… but it was a bet and we each got six silver pieces out of it. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. If I could hear my heart then he definitely could. This is so embarrassing.

I slipped my hands into his hair and closed the rest of the space between us. He seemed startled at first, but didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around the small of my back and pull me against his chest. What the hell am I doing? This was a horrible idea. Leaning just out of reach, I managed a small smile and asked, "How was that?"

He brushed one of his fingers along the side of my face, "Perfect." I buried my face in his neck and waited for him to run his fingers through my hair again. I wound up purring before he even started, being this close to him put me at ease. So much that it scared me. What the hell does he see in me?

I was almost asleep when Sebastian tried putting me down, but i kept my arms wrapped around him and groggily asked, "Where are you going?"

"I have to check on something, I'll be right back."

Opening my eye enough to let the light in I asked, "Like what?"

He sighed softly and gently kissed me. "Something that doesn't concern you at this present moment. I'll be back before you wake up."

"I'll only fall for that line once today. Try again."

Sebastian kissed me again and rested his forehead against mine. "I'll be right back." I sighed softly but let my arms fall to my side. He was going to go whether or not i was conscious. At least now I couldn't be surprised if I woke up and he still wasn't here. "Why don't you send Milo up here while you're at it." I paused as he climbed off the bed and added, "He doesn't leave me in the middle of the night."

Sebastian glanced back after opening the door, his eyes flashing pink and a devilish smirk plastered across his face. "How do you know I don't watch you sleep?"

I fell silent and frowned up at the ceiling. He didn't really mean that did he? I mean, I'd know if he watched me… wouldn't I? I wiggled my way under the blankets and most of the pillows before closing my eyes again. If he wanted to watch me he could stare at a pile of breathing blankets.

I waited for Adrian to get settled again before heading downstairs. It was just starting to get dark, so I could probably wake him up again afterwards need be. That little brat could be trusted enough to not mess with Adrian, but I wanted to get rid of his as soon as possible. I left him in charge so it would keep him busy and get him out of my business. After all this time he was still attached to me. I found his soul more interesting than him personally, but then he got turned, and I wanted nothing to do with him. I had done my part by taking responsibility and teaching him how to be human again, but that was as far as I was going to go. If I had it my way I would have drowned the little bastard half a century ago.

When I found him he was poking around in the library, or wandering as he liked to call it. WE both knew he was lying, but there wasn't much point calling each other on our bluffs. We'd be sitting there for ages. "How's playing house going?"

I leaned against a nearby bookcase and shrugged. Monotonous yes, but Adrian had brought a little excitement here without destroying everything he touched. "That depends on what you're next question is."

He sighed and turned, shoving a random book back onto the shelf, out of place no doubt. "I just came to see if the rumors were true or not, and it looks like they are."

"Oh really? And just what might these 'rumors' consist of?"

"Your new pet." I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Word travels fast when high ranking demons are getting involved with humans… even faster when that human isn't entirely human.

"What about my new 'pet'?"

Ciel shrugged disinterestedly, and continued to wander around the room, like he had been sent here as a messenger. "Nothing much. There's a pool in place on whether or not you're going to turn him I just came to get an… advantage."

"You started it didn't you."

He rolled his red eyes, "as if I'd bother with something so tedious. It's just fun to watch the others watch you. I'd like to know the answer to the riddle before everyone else."

"What makes this any of your business?"

Ciel beamed, turning to face me. "Nothing, that's the beauty of this interaction. The sooner you answer the sooner you can return to him."

"Who even said there was someone else here?"

I met Ciel's condescending glare with a cheerful smirk. It was always good to show him just how little I expected out of him. It kept him in line. "Don't talk down to me Sebastian, I can feel him here."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive." His eyes flashed pink and he folded his arms over his chest. I didn't think he'd ever manage to get that one under control. He had too short of fuse when it came to anything relating to himself.

"Even so, that's none of your concern. And at the present moment, even if I was going to turn him, he's in no condition to do so. I wouldn't want him to perish during such a ceremony."

Ciel's eyes narrowed and he shrugged. "Fine, but I'm taking that as a yes. I know you well enough to know you aren't keeping him here because you are fond of his soul."

"I can give you that much, but don't think you can make a habit out of popping up whenever you feel like it. It's quite rude."

"No promises, but I think I'll restrict my visits to night time. We wouldn't want to scare him off." Ciel vanished in a swirl of shadows and dark energy, leaving me standing there in the now empty room. I was a bit surprised that things went so smoothly. What ever was going on must have put him in a pretty good mood. Or he was plotting something. I wouldn't doubt the latter but he wouldn't try anything while I was here, and I didn't plan on letting Adrian out of my sight any time soon.

I stopped off in the kitchen and pulled the pot out of the fire before returning to him. Even if he was sleeping, he seemed intent on me being there. My little comment about watching him sleep didn't seem to phase him at all.

I lingered in front of the castle doors for several minutes, keeping a watchful eye on the seemingly empty courtyard. It had been several minutes since anybody had passed by last, but I didn't want to risk another encounter with any of the servants children. Mother couldn't keep replacing her handmaidens because their children couldn't behave, so didn't tell her about last time. I hate this. Why can't I just stay inside? Matt gets to sit inside all day reading his stupid books. So why can't I?

Slowly stepping off the stairs, I hesitantly made my way towards the large tree in the center of the open space. I could climb up, take a nap, then go back inside saying I had had my fill out outside for the day. Tomorrow I would definitely go back to hiding in the passages after lessons.

About half way across the courtyard I caught some movement out of the corner of my eyes, before something hit me in the head and knocked me off balance. Before I could gain my bearings again, a bunches of kids were pulling on me. Pain shot up the length of my back as they yanked on my tail and I could barely move let alone try to make them stop. Tears streamed down the sides of my face as I tried making myself seem smaller, only then did the group circle around me. "You're not a real prince! Mama says you're just a warlocks bastard."

A low growl escaped me and I grabbed the rock they had thrown at me, and tossed it back with twice the force. Blood started to trickle down the boys face as I tucked my tail into my pants and slowly got to my feet. His friends threw me back on the ground and kicked me a few more times, until someone finally realized what was going on and told them off.

Taking a deep breath I slowly sat up again and waited to Matt to come over. He tipped my face to the side, and studied my already forming black eye. "You shouldn't have hit him back."

"He threw a rock at me!"

"That's not the point." He sighed and used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe some dirt and possibly blood from my face, before crouching down before me. "They just don't understand what's going on. Lashing out isn't going to make them stop."

"It'll make them stop throwing rocks at me." I folded my arms over my chest and felt my ears flatten against my head in distaste. What did he know? My brother was a human as human got. He didn't have to deal with not being able to leave their own bedroom without having people stare at them.

"Violence is never the answer."

"It is when they're already being violent. You don't use pen when someone pulls a sword on you. You draw your own sword."

"Adrian, be patient. One day someone will grow as fond of your traits as I have."

Frowning down at the ground I shook my head and asked, "how can you even say something like that? You have no idea what it's like! I don't want to be like this, if I had a choice I'd cut them both off! I hate this! I wish I hadn't even been born!"

Matt tried grabbing my arm, but I pulled away and stormed back inside. He still hadn't found all my hiding places, and today I was going to make sure to go somewhere he wouldn't be able to find me.

Something warm pressing against my forehead woke me up. I opened my eyes to find Sebastian sitting there with the blankets pulled back. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly, before he leaned forward and kissed me again. "Are you awake?"

I hesitated briefly, before draping my arms around his neck and nodding slightly. "I am now."

"Good." In one motion he picked me up and placed me on the floor. "We're going for a walk."

I crinkled my nose in distaste, but Sebastian had already grabbed my hand and was gently leading me towards the door. I didn't wake up for a walk. I didn't want to go back to sleep either, but still, walking left me exhausted. "How did you sleep?"

I shrugged, not wanting to dwell on my dream. It felt too much like my brother was trying to talk to be from beyond the grave, and I didn't want to think about that. How could he even say that if he knew what lay in store for me? Maybe he thought it was all I was capable of. "I do a lot of sleeping. I'd be less cooperative if I didn't have a somewhat pleasant experience."

"I shall keep that in mind then." Sebastian easily made his way through the dark hallways, and I stuck close to him. I ma have been able to see in the dark a bit better than others, but my night vision wasn't this advanced. Must be another perk of being a demon.

As we entered the kitchen Sebastian lit the hearts in the corner along with the chandelier over head and placed a warm bowl of soup in front of my and pulled me into his lap. "Now you're going to eat something."

I sighed softly and swirled the spoon around in the bowl thoughtfully. I wasn't really hungry… Well I might have been, but I didn't really feel like eating. With Sebastian sitting there, resting his chin on top of my head I didn't have much of a choice. After I took a small bite, his long arms arms wrapped around me. What's gotten into him? He's acting weird.

"What's wrong?"

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing."

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head back and gazed up at him, hoping the gesture in itself didn't require more explanation. Although Sebastian didn't seem to think so. "Pardon?"

"I'm in your lap."

"Do you dislike being here?"

A soft sighed escaped me and I slowly explained, "that's not what I meant. You're acting like I'm about to follow my brother or something."

Sebastian's eyes widened slightly, but he kissed my forehead and ignored my question. "Of course not. You're reading too far into this. What's wrong with wanting to embrace my soon-to-be husband?"

Nothing I said would have changed his mind. Whatever Sebastian had in mind, he was planning on doing it soon. Maybe he was testing the waters to see what he'd be able to get away with. I still wasn't entirely sure I wanted to go through with this. I knew I wasn't as opposed to the idea as before, but I had no idea what was to follow. Normally I'd have no problem with just taking a plunge into the unknown, but now? This wasn't just deciding to hop on a boat and take a vacation. I'd be with Sebastian for the rest of my life and I wasn't ready to make that sort of commitment. It's way too early for this.

Sebastian seemed content that I had eaten at least half the bowl, when I decided I was done. "Am I allowed to go back to bed now?"

"Of course." He took me into his arms again, and carried me back upstairs. There was still something he wasn't telling me, I could feel it, but what was I supposed to ask about? Saying something along the lines of 'what aren't you telling me' could get an answer ranging from something I actually wanted to know to a 'not right now' and getting led into an entirely different subject. Why does talking to him have to be so hard? Out of all the difficult people I have had to deal with, Sebastian was the worst by far. But I still stuck to him. He was just about the only person who could actually hold a conversation. Draco too, but he still scared me. I had no idea what he was up to either, but he was more honest.

"What's wrong?" I shook my head and rested my head on his shoulder. There wasn't even any way to begin thinking about answering his question. Nothing was wrong, but at the same time it felt like something was. I just didn't know what. Or maybe, something would be wrong. Maybe not now, but soon. "Are your sure?"

"I guess…" He laid me on my bed and climbed over me, brushing back my hair so he could see my face better.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I rubbed my face with my hands, and tried to get my brain to work. I was fine earlier. One stupid dream couldn't have done that much damage. "I don't know."

"Why do you say that?"

I pressed my face into the palm of his hand and stared just past him. "It's true? I don't know or understand what's going on and I probably never will. Sitting here with you isn't going to change that."

"What's there to understand?"

Taking a slow, deliberate breath, I propped myself up on my elbows and asked, "why me?"

Sebastian hesitated. I wondered if he even had a reason for all of this in the first place. Maybe he didn't. Hell, he could have just been bored and decided he was going to toy around with me until he got bored again. I couldn't put him above it. "We're compatible."

"Based on what? We barely know each other."

He sighed and thoughtfully stroked my cheek."I can see your soul."

"So, you're interested in my soul…"

"The vessel is important as well. Without it you'd just be memories and emotions floating through the void. Nobody but us and reapers would see you." What is he saying? What does my soul have to do with this?

"You still aren't making any sense."

"To you, no. I'm not surprised. Take my word for it."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because you're always doing things like this! You ask me something but don't even bother answering me when I ask a question. This isn't how things are supposed to work!"

He seemed genuinely confused as to why I was getting upset, and rested his forehead against mine, in attempts to keep me calm. "How are they supposed to work?"

Why does he have to be so close? My mind went blank and any answer I could have given him was long gone. There wasn't anything I could really explain. I hadn't ever been like this with anyone, so how was I supposed to know how things worked? Maybe this actually was right, and I was the one who needed a reality check.

"Forget it."

"I don't want to, this obviously means something to you."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Adrian please." I started when I met his longing gaze and felt my eyes widen. "Tell me what you want."

I don't know, thats the problem. "Just…" My chest hurts… what is he doing to me? I wanted to push him away and return to having that familiar distance between us, but I didn't want to go back to that. He was too close. I tilted my chin up slightly, trying not to stare at him lips for too long. I had done this earlier on a whim, so why did it feel so hard now? Am I overthinking this? You can't just lie there, do something.

Closing my eyes, I buried my fingers in his hair and closed the painfully small space between us. Sebastian moved his hand to my side and pulled me against his chest. I whimpered softly when he suddenly pulled away, concern flashing in his eyes as he moved his hands to my face. "Adrian, don't cry. Am I hurting you?"

"I'm not…" Sebastian wiped a few tears from the sides of my face with his thumb and pulled back as far as I would let him go. "I'm fine."

He kissed the tip of my nose before unlacing my fingers from behind his head and sliding to the floor. "Perhaps it's best that I go. We can talk later, and it's getting late."

"Please don't go. I want you to stay."

He took a step back when I reached for his hand, calmly stating, "I don't think that would be wise."

"But, you said…" How can he just leave? Does he really not understand what's going on?

He kissed the top of my head and rubbed my back a few times before turning for the door. "Give it some time."

"I don't want to." I looked up to find him gone, and I was left sitting in the empty darkness. He didn't just do that right? He was going to come back, He has to.

Falling backwards I hugged my knees to my chest and stared at the wall, fully aware of how much I was crying. My chest tightened and suffocating wave of loneliness washed over me. I didn't want to be alone. I spent practically my whole life like that. So why now? Why did the only person who I actually trusted feel the need to keep leaving. All I ever did was watch people walk away. It had never mattered before but now that I actually wanted someone to stay I had no idea what to do. Was I supposed to just let them go? Should I have said something? Was there even anything I was supposed to have said? I can't do anything right. I should have just let my father ship me away. Sebastian wouldn't have realized until a few months later. Maybe I could have forgotten all about him by then. The mark on my neck was the only thing that I couldn't get rid of.

Who just does that? What did he think was going to happen? I don't know how to handle things like this. Milo pawed the door open and jumped onto the bed next to me, purring. What? He can't handle me so he sends his cat? He tried to worm his way against my chest, but I didn't let him, leaving the cat to figure out where its new spot would be. This was once peace offering I wasn't going to accept. Sebastian wasn't going to get away with this one, not this time. He had put an innocent in the middle of this. Whatever this was supposed to be called now. He called me his husband, then just left when I needed him. I knew I wouldn't have been able to get away with the same thing, but as of now I was no longer speaking to him. Aside from telling him my brother was getting a proper sendoff.

The setting sun painted the crumbling stone structure with various shades of gold and orange. The air hummed with electricity and there seemed to be a strange presences watching over it. With all the animals roaming around in the shadows, one couldn't help but to assume it was a positive one. Strange for Sebastian, but he was still traipsing across thin ice without a care in the world. If he had one, he certainly wasn't showing it.

The wooden structure in the center of the room burst into flames, startling me. I glared back at Sebastian, bud didn't say anything as I sat on the ground nearby and hugged my knees to my chest. "I'll be back to collect you. Don't get into trouble, and don't talk to strangers."

I rolled my eyes and rested my chin on my knees. Once I was sure he was gone I took a deep breath and stared into the flames. This was it, The last time I'd ever see my brother and I couldn't even think of anything to say. Was I even supposed to say anything? Would he want me to? We may not have been buddy buddy recently, but he didn't deserve this. I always thought I'd be the one to die like this. I never really heeded any warning about getting sick or keeping my wounds clean. Maybe that was why I never got sick.

Everything he could have accomplished was just gone. Once I was gone nobody would even remember him anymore. He might as well have been a ghost at that point. That's going to be me someday. Nothing more than a pile of ash and bone with no mark on the world. Nobody would have realized I was gone, or cared. The memories would die out and I might as well have not been here at all. How was I even supposed to tell this was real, or even mattered? I could be stuck in some eternal punishment and things were only going to get worse. Why did any of this matter?

Weren't we all just going to do the same thing eventually? The end of the line came at some point, and if you were just going to slip away unnoticed why bother? The only person who hadn't given up on me was gone so why did anything else matter?

A cold numbness slowly spread through me, seeping into every part of my body imaginable. I could feel or really think. It was like I was shutting down. I didn't even know why. The heat from the inferno before me did nothing. If anything feeling the hot air surrounding me made it worse. The only way I knew I hadn't fallen asleep or drifted off completely was feeling my tail occasionally twitch from where it was tucked away. What's wrong with me?

At some point I flopped to the side and remained on the uneven stone, not able to find the will, or strength to move. The world slowly grew dark around me, but I couldn't leave. I kept trying to come up with something to say to him other than goodbye, but it was impossible. He might as well have been a complete stranger. Did anyone ever know what to say at these things? A funeral wasn't really something you could plan for. Even if the person was terminally ill sometimes they liked to cling to the hope that they weren't going to die. "Adrian, you can't stay out here all night. It's cold."

I ignored Sebastian, but shifted into a sitting position and draped the blanket he had given me around my shoulders. Even holding the fabric between my fingers I couldn't really feel it. It was there, but at the same time not. "Just how long do you think you can keep going like this?"

I shrugged, refusing him the satisfaction of a verbal reply. He had yet to do anything to even try to understand what was going on and I wasn't going to bother. You don't just ask someone what they want and ignore them when they give you an answer. He was about to be on the receiving end of his backwards logic. "You're acting like a child."

I am a child.

He wrapped his arms around me suddenly, and I could feel the warmth slowly returning to me. But at the same time I realized he was right about it being cold and involuntarily pressed my back against his chest. I'm not going to do this again. "I'm sorry." He tilted his head back when I still didn't say anything, and studied my face. "Don't be mad anymore." I'm not going to talk. "Adrian, please say something."

There wasn't anything to say. I wasn't going to accept or deny his apology. I shivered again and Sebastian quickly tucked me against his chest, and closed the blanket around me. "You're going to get sick. You've been pushing yourself too hard."

"Why do you care?"

He seemed startled and his grip on me tightened slightly, like he was anticipating me trying to get away from his. "What do you mean 'why'?"

"You just left me there. Everything you do doesn't match what you say and I can't keep up anymore! I told you what I wanted and I still didn't get it."

Sebastian stroked the sides of my face and closed his eyes for a few seconds, thinking. "I could have handled things better, but you scared me. I thought I had done something."

"I told you you didn't."

"That's something you'd say even if I had."

"Take me back, I'm tired." Sebastian didn't make any attempt to move and rested his forehead against mine once more. Whatever he was selling I didn't want any. It hurt too much, "Why bother, you're just going to leave again."

"Then tell me to stay."

"I already did that." I leaned back and started to take the blanket off. I refused to spend any more time in his arms than I had to. Not any more. He pinned me against the ground, and his eyes slowly turned pink. I tried squirming my way out from under him to no avail. "Get off of me."

"Do it again."

"No."

"I'm not moving." What's he going to do? We can't stay like this forever.

"Why should I have to repeat myself?"

It was Sebastian's turn to remain silent, but he didn't seem to be angry, frustrated maybe? What had he been doing that I wasn't aware of? He easily turned onto his back when I shoved him over, but he took me with him. He laced his fingers behind the small of my back and waited.

His eyes quickly returned to their normal color when I started crying in frustration, and he started to sit up, "I didn't-

"Stay."

"What?"

"Promise me you'll stay with me." He nodded and gazed up at me when I placed my hands on either side of his face. "You have to say it."

"I'll stay." I pulled him into a kiss, wanting to stay there for as long as I could. But the weather had other ideas, because the temperature seemed to drop drastically when I slipped my fingers into his soft hair, "We should go."

He kissed me a few more times before standing and bundling me up again, promising I could do what I liked once we got back and I was warm again.

Gus Kinney: damn that was a great chapter i need to tell you all something chapter 9 will be the last one it will make since love you all until the end goodbye


	9. Out of the labyrinth

Gus Kinney: Hello this is it the last chapter and its called out of the labyrinth

A frustrated sigh escaped me as Sebastian pulled me backwards against his chest just as I was going to climb into bed. He started drying my hair and chided, "honestly, you're going to get sick again if you don't properly dry yourself." His words were garbled from the fabric constantly rubbing over my ears, but I thought I got the general gist of what he was trying to say.

"You're sending me to bed anyway. Why does it matter?"

He ran his fingers through my hair a few times, satisfied that water was no longer dripping from the ends. I tilted my head back and gazed up at him. "It still gets cold for a human at night."

Sebastian ran the towel down the length of my back and I started, "one of these days I'm going to stop identifying as human and..." He seemed confused when I suddenly trailed off and pulled away. "B- be careful."

I twitched my tail slightly when he wrapped it in the towel again, and felt him roll his eyes. "We wouldn't be going through this if you had a longer attention span, and why don't you put on a shirt?"

He was trying his luck when he started rubbing the place my tail connected to my back. "I don't… feel like it...and...all the blankets...make up for it. What are you trying to do here?"

Sebastian smiled down at me as I tried to calm my pounding heart. "Nothing." He kissed me, his teeth grazing against my bottom lip as he pulled away. "Just… experimenting."

"Experiment on someone else." Neither one of them moved after that. A knowing silence fell across the room until Sebastian slowly started trailing his fingers down my back once again. I arched my back towards him and closed my eyes. His teeth grazed my neck when I tipped my head to the side and a low rumble filled my chest. Sebastian trailed kisses along my jaw, eventually stopping just before my lips. He swiped his thumb across my bottom lip when I gazed up at him and smirked. "You're a horrible scientist."

"That's because I'm not one." Sebastian placed me on the bed and peeled his shirt off before coming to straddle my waist. His eyes roamed over my exposed torso, slowly shifting to their original pink color. My breath caught in my throat when his teeth grazed against my chest, and I felt him hook his fingers into the waist of my pants, slowly pulling them down to expose my slowly growing erection.

I couldn't meet his now pink eyes and looked away. He traced lines along the nape of my neck with his tongue and smiled. "No need to be shy, you're beautiful." I laced my fingers through his hair and didn't respond.

Sebastian traced the outline of my bottom lip with his tongue before slipping it into my mouth. His hands slipped away from my neck and trailed along my body, stopping short of my throbbing cock. I lifted my hips in anticipation, and broke away for air, but Sebastian was going to draw this out for as long as he could. He propped himself up on his knees and relieved himself of his own pants. Luat gleamed in his eyes as he slowly ran one of his fingers along the length of me, stopping when he got to the tip and giving me an impish smirk. "You're so impatient." I bit back another moan as he swirled his thumb around the tip, bucking my hips into his hand and managing a deep. shuddering breath. He stopped as fast as he had started, and angled my hips towards him before slowly pushing one of his fingers inside me. I shifted uncomfortably, trying to get used to the feeling of him moving around inside of me. His lips brushed against my chest as he slowly worked in another. I shivered involuntarily when the tip of his finger just barely grazed a certain bundle of nerves and bit my bottom lip again. Sebastian returned to kissing my neck, alternating before sucking and biting the skin there. Pain flared up in my neck when he bit me a lot harder than before and shifted downward; the sound of pain dissolving into a throaty moan. "Don't do that."

Wrapping my fingers around strands of his hair again, I pulled him into a sloppy kiss, needing a distracting from my throbbing neck and now aching cock. Sebastian quickly apologized and rubbed his thumb over the spot, trying to make up for biting me. The damage was already done however, and when he started kissing my jaw, I redirected his attention to my mouth again. I could do enough damage to myself without him coming along and leaving marks everywhere.

A soft whimper escaped me when he slid his fingers out and spread my legs a bit wider, inviting him to touch me some more. He chuckled softly then wrapped his hand around me, slowly stroking me. I weakly thrusted into his hand, warmth slowly starting to pool in my lower abdomen.

Sebastian slowed and pulled away, slowly unwrapping my fingers from his hair. I pouted and gazed up at him, idly twitching the tip of my tail and he shifted me into position. I gripped the sheets beneath me and squeezed my eyes shut as he buried himself inside of me. He brushed back my hair and kissed my forehead and eyelids, trying to get me to relax. IT was a lot easier said than done since it felt like he was tearing me apart from the inside out. Just what the hell did I get myself into?

I rested my forehead on his shoulder and took a few deeps breath, focusing on his fingers trailing along the length of my back. Taking a few deeps breaths, I pulled myself into his lap and nodded slightly. Sebastian wrapped his arms around my waist and I could feel his eyes on me when he asked, "are you sure?"

I nodded again, gently nipping his collarbone as payback from earlier. He slowly pulled out then slipped back in again, hesitating briefly to gauge my reaction before continuing. My breath came out in short gasps as he continued to hit that one spot inside of me, threatening to shove me over the edge with each carefully aimed thrust. I pulled him into another kiss and slipped my tongue into his mouth, He held me closer and started stroking me in time to his thrusts. I buried my face in his neck again and moaned, holding out for a few more thrusts until I came with his name on my lips.

Sebastian buried himself inside of me one final time and followed, nuzzling his face in my hair hair.

It felt like hours before I could finally breathe again, and Sebastian gently slid me off of him and laid me on the bed. His pink eyes loomed above me in the darkness while he stroked my sweaty hair. A deep purr rumbled in my chest and I closed my eyes, waiting to see if he was going to leave or not. He started to pull away and I opened my eyes again, "will you...stay with me?"

His lips brushed against my forehead and he nodded, "of course." I waited for him to get settled next to me before laying on his chest and closing my eyes again. Sebastian running his fingers through my hair, and the gentle thudding of his heart were enough to lull me to sleep in minutes.

Sebastian gently kissed me into consciousness and waited for me to turn over and peer out from the mound of blankets I had built up around myself while I slept. Sunlight was filtering in through the windows, meaning it was probably a lot later than I had originally assumed. He smiled and brushed back some of my hair when I turned onto my back and softly asked, "How are you feeling?"

I stretched and shifted back and forth a few times so I wasn't in as tight a cocoon as before. Places I hadn't even known existed were sore, but after last night it was worth it. I wouldn't mind doing it again, just not right away. Although I still wanted to sleep. I turned back over onto my stomach and buried my face in the closest pillow. "Five more minutes."

"Pardon?"

I reached for the corner of the blankets and closed my eyes again, slowly responding.  
I'm feeling five more minutes in bed. Maybe five more hours. Who knows?" I shrugged slightly and waited for Sebastian's response. I wouldn't have been surprised if he made me get up, but it would have been nice if he didn't.

A content sigh escaped me when he worked his fingers through my hair. Purring, I sunk deeper into the soft mattress, I could get used to this. I started when he pulled the blankets back and glanced behind me while he calmly stated, "It's been five minutes."

Cringing at the cold air swirling around me, I feebly reached for the blankets again, knowing it wasn't going to be that easy. Nothing ever was. Sebastian straddled my waist and rested his cold hands on my shoulder blades and cooed, "if you plan on staying in bed all day I just might have to go for round two."

I playfully nudged him off of me and sat up, climbing into his lap and lacing my fingers behind his head. "Now if it's too early to wake up, it's definitely too early for that."

He rested his hands on my hips and played along with me. "You can't possibly stay in bed all day."

"I can try."

Sebastian kissed my forehead and slipped his hands into mine, "technically speaking you can, just not today. You're going shopping with Pyros while I run some errands."

"Or, I can stay here and sleep while you run errands and Pyros goes shopping."

His lips brushed against my knuckles and he shook his head, matter-of-factly explaining, "I don't want to leave you home alone. Maybe next time." I tilted my head to the side and studied his face. Was he purposely leaving out Draco, or was he pretending he didn't exist. I thought they had made up by now, but maybe I was wrong. Or maybe Sebastian didn't trust him enough to make sure I didn't suffocate in my sleep. Not that that would happen. He sighed, picking up on my unasked question and added, "Draco is with his father. I'm not expecting him back any time soon."

Draco has a family? I didn't know why it surprised me so much, I mean, his 'father' could have turned him, but I just figured him and Pyros were orphans or something since they were living here. Isolated from humans and their own kind. There could have been more to this than I understood, but it wasn't really my place to ask questions.

"Please?" Even if Draco wasn't here, being home alone for a few hours was something I could handle. Even if someone showed up, I was certain Precious wouldn't hesitate to maul any unwelcome intruders if Sebastian wasn't here to keep him in check.

I worked in as much innocence and cuteness as I could when gazing up at him, but Sebastian saw right through me and stroke the sides of my face. "Not this time, get dressed."

I crinkled my nose in distaste as he lowered me to the floor, then lounged on the bed to make sure I didn't climb back in. I might have if I was in the mood for cuddling, but it would have been easier to just do as he said. "You're a pain in the neck, you know that?"

Sebastian smirked when I glanced back at him, and paused before he responded, taking more interest in watching me pull on my pants than the actual question. "Are we speaking on literal terms? Because that will go away in a few days."

I rubbed the mark he made last night and looked for one of my sweaters. It probably wasn't that cold outside, but I just couldn't seem to get warm right now. My brow furrowed in frustration as I grabbed something. "What? No. Well… maybe, but mostly no." I rolled my shoulders around a few times before pulling my shirt on and turning to face him. "Happy now? I'm dressed and out of bed."

Sebastian slowly ambled over and hooked an arm around my waist, "I'd be even happier if you ate something for a late breakfast."

"You're awfully needy today."

He tipped my chin up and gazed into my eyes. "I'm a very high maintenance demon, very uncommon, but it does happen. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Balancing on my toes, I threw my arms around his neck, pausing thoughtfully. I wasn't quite ready to leave yet, and I wanted to see how long he would let me stay in his arms before ushering me off into Pyros' care. Can't we just spend one day together without an argument or any interruptions? Is that too much to ask? "Maybe I'll have to let someone else have my soul then. Only one of us can be high maintenance and I'm already filling that bill." I kissed his chin before dropping back down to the ground and ducking under his arms. "You better be gone when I get back, because if I find out you spent the whole day lurking in the shadows and just wanted me out of the house, I will be very upset."

I stepped out onto the landing and bounded down the stairs. An afternoon out couldn't be that bad. I haven't really spent any time outside lately. Yesterday didn't really count since it was mostly dark and cold, and I was trying to forget my trip home. Being around people usually made me feel better so the rest of this cloud that was hovering over me could finally disappear and things could go back to normal. If that's what you could call this. Normal may not have been the right word, but it was the only word that came to mind and made sense. In reality it was everything but.

Pyros was standing at the bottom of the stairs, studying the piece of paper in his hand before tucking it into his pocket for safe keeping. "I didn't think he'd actually manage to get you out of bed. You sleep like a rock."

I jumped down the last couple steps and shrugged. "Being 'part' cat does have it's perks. I've never had a sleepless night in all my years. So what are we getting?"

Pyros studded his hands in his pockets, and watched Ebony stalk by before continuing. "Sebastian gave me a list. I'd forget half the stuff if he didn't, I'm not good with that sort of stuff."

I stared blankly at him and glanced in the direction I had just come from. "So let me get this straight. Sebastian is sending you on his errands, so he can do something else."

He shrugged. "Dunno, I don't ask too many questions most of the time. He's scary when he gets mad and I'd rather not be dragged to hell anytime soon. I haven't even turned into my demon form yet, they'd eat me alive." How can he say that so calmly? Pyros must have been through a lot to just change the subject afterwards. Or he could have just bounced around like this all the time. It was hard to tell just what he was like, and having barely spoken with him since my arrival wasn't going to help my case. In time I might have been able to feel him out, but presently, an afternoon out would give me such a chance. "Do you want to eat before you go or…"

I rubbed my stomach thoughtfully. I didn't really think I was hungry, and as much as Sebastian wouldn't have liked it, I would have rather waited until I got back. Sometimes my stomach would still hurt afterwards and if that happened I wanted to be able to sleep it off, not go around interacting with others. "I'm fine, maybe later. It' still kind of early for me."

"Okay, then we're off." He grabbed a basket off the floor nearby and stared at the empty space in front of us. A glowing portal opened and he started to step through, waiting to see if I would follow. "Don't worry, it's safe."

Safety was the last thing I was concerned with. How was I supposed to know this led to the right place? I wasn't trying to say Pyros was unreliable, but he seemed to have misplaces a few marbles and who knew where or when they would turn up again. Sebastian must have some amount of confidence if he trusts me more with Pyros than home alone. I nodded slightly to myself and took a few hesitant steps forward, intending to let Pyros go first. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, dragging me through and we ended up in the bright sunlight just outside a bustling city. I stopped, blinded by the light and had to wait several minutes for my vision to finally clear. "I told you it was safe, and we didn't get lost." He playfully nudged me with his elbow and added, "now all we have to do is find everything on the list and get home intact."

Something tells me he used to have trouble with this portal thing. I nodded in encouragement when Pyros glanced back at me and started to follow him into the city. This is going to be a long afternoon.

"So how do you think Adrian is going to react to being turned into a demon?"

I scribbled my name at the bottom of the paper I had skimmed and threw it on top of the growing stack next to me. "Who said I was turning him?"

"A ratio of 500 to 150."

Sighing softly, I started the next document and handed what was done to Ciel. "Deliver these, it's what you came for, right?"

Ciel rolled his eyes and leaned against the edge of the desk. "Officially yes, but we both know why I'm here." Why Ciel was so concerned with what I was doing, I would never know. It must have been his way for showing he cared, or he just didn't want me to forget about him.

"You're testing my patience."

"The last time, something tested your patience you tried to rip my heart out. I think I can manage." There had to be some reason Ciel was overly invested in this. Getting him to tell me about it would be another story. For all I knew Ciel was just jealous I was directing my attention elsewhere. I had lost all interest in him the second I lost his soul. If Ciel hadn't come to rely on me so much, we would have gone our separate ways and I wouldn't have to put up with him now. "Do you think he'll actually make it?"

"Does it matter?"

"I'm just curious is all."

"Your curiosity is never innocent. I'm not telling you what I'm planning if you aren't going to tell me first." I didn't trust Ciel, and I didn't want him around Adrian until he was a demon. Even if Adrian couldn't fend for himself he was less likely to die.

Ciel sighed and paused. He was troubled by something, but I wasn't going to ask. "Nothing. I'm not planning anything, I just want to know."

"That's none of your concern. What I do with Adrian doesn't affect you. Stay out of this."

"Do you really think I won't find out eventually, how hard is it to just tell me?" His eyes flashed red and he glared at me, a feeble attempt an intimidation. It wasn't going to work. He could pout all he wanted, it wasn't going to change.

"Then eventually it is."

He sighed in irritation and grabbed the stack of papers off the desk before opening a portal and stepping through, leaving behind the scent of brimstone. I tossed the rest of the papers aside and sighed. He had always been more trouble than he was worth, but now he might have tried lashing out at me for apparently no reason. Maybe if he wasn't desperately clinging to his humanity he could start moving forward. Where did I go wrong with that child?

Perching on my toes, I reached for the ceiling. The muscles in my back slowly relaxed, and I dropped to the ground again I'm exhausted. I should have stayed in bed. Pyros edged around me and headed for the kitchen, thanking me for my help as he disappeared down the hall. I couldn't really say I did much. I guess I just had a better sense of location than he did. He might have gotten lost in a room with only one door. I chalked it up to his obvious short attention span. I had to redirect him into what we were supposed to be doing several times. I don't think he did it on purpose, he was trying to be helpful, but he got lost in his own little world and seemed to forget about what was actually going on. Maybe it's a coping mechanism…

I started up the stairs, figuring I could slip in a nap before Sebastian realized I was back. Then he materialized there, watching me make my way up towards him with a weary expression. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever saw him sleep. He always seemed up and about trying to do something. I didn't know what he did all day, but sleep didn't seem priority. Or eating… I don't think I've seen him eat either.

I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest. "I need a nap, come with me."

He sighed softly and waited while I wrapped my legs around his waist to get more comfortable and took a deep breath. "You were only gone a few hours."

"I need my twelve hours. I got eight at most."

Sebastian ran his fingers through my hair and kissed the top of my head. He wrapped his arms around me and started walking. "Where are we going?"

"You said you were tired."

"Will you stay with me?"

Sebastian paused, but I didn't know if it was from hesitation or something else entirely. I pulled myself higher and peered into his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He quickly looked away and tried changing the subject, but I wasn't about to fall for it again. I dropped to the floor in front of him and folded my arms over my chest. "You can't keep doing this forever! If i kept falling for this then I'd really be an idiot."

Sebastian arched an eyebrow and mimicked my pose. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can't just not tell me things! Everything you've pretended not to know about is something that affects me. So that doesn't make it nothing, unless you really think that little of me."

I stepped back when he reached for me. He was trying to distract me and I wouldn't let him. This couldn't keep happening. Whatever you could call this, it wasn't going to work if I was the only one trying to communicate. Hadn't I told him this already? At this rate nothing was going to change. Why was I still trying? I didn't have to care this much. Even if I hated him with every fiber of my being I'd still be stuck with him… Or shipped off to that girl. I wouldn't have called for him if I hadn't missed him so much. What was the point if I was going to be the only one trying? "Not here."

"So where? Or are you just going to drag me somewhere and ignore me until you think I've forgotten."

I started when Sebastian's eyes turned pink and took few steps back. I hadn't meant to make him angry. I was just trying to make him understand. Was I going about this the wrong way? Hell, was there ever a right way to do this? Maybe nobody really knew how relationships worked and we all stumbled around figuring everything out as they went, and not knowing what was really going on in the first place.

Sebastian bundled me into his arms and held me against his chest, ignoring my half-hearted attempts to free myself. He sighed and rocked me back and forth, "honestly, you're so simple minded, what am I going to do with you."

Not wanting Sebastian think this had pacified me, I bluntly retorted, "Ignore me and change the subject."

He sighed softly and rubbed my back in a slow, circular motion. "I simply suggested a change of venue, no need to get your tail in a twist."

"Yeah but… that just leaves room for other things to come first too."

"You will always come first."

I clutched the fabric of his shirt and bit my lip, unsure of what I should say. My mind was drawing a blank again and all I could do was stand there. I couldn't even bring myself to look at him. It did occur to my that he could be lying, but the thought of it terrified me. Sebastian was all I had left, I didn't want to lose him too. "Really?"

Sebastian rested his hands on either side of my face and tipped my face upwards, making me look at him. "Of course, why would I lie to you?"

I shrugged, still not knowing how I was supposed to respond. There could have been numerous reasons for him to not be truthful with me, he was a demon, but none really came to mind presently. I was stuck here whether I wanted to or not. Sebastian could have told me anything and the only people that I came in contact with would probably have already known for a lot longer than I had. "See? There's nothing to worry about. I just had something I would like to ask you."

I rested my hands over his and lowered my eyes to the floor. "Like what?"

"I wish to turn you into a demon."

I found myself agreeing without hesitation and found myself startled by how quickly I was able to decide. Shouldn't I have thought this through? What if I regretted it hours from now after the topic was said and done? I didn't think I would, if I was so quick to agree. Some part of me seemed to know something I didn't. That had to count for something. But was I really ready to plunge into the unknown again?

Sebastian seemed as surprised as me with my prompt response, but smiled. "Then it's settled." He sealed out new deal with a kiss, and I felt my worries melt away until everything had boiled down to it being just the two of us standing there. I pouted when Sebastian pulled away, and he kissed my knuckles. "Later, first you're eating lunch."

He started towing me towards the kitchen and I sighed. "I thought we were taking a nap."

Sebastian glanced back at me, his eyes flashing pink. "There's still time, the day is still young, and the night is ours." How the hell does he just come up with that on the spot? I looked away and tried to hide my reddening cheeks, hoping Sebastian hadn't noticed.

Why is he doing that? He making me nervous. Sebastian continued to tensely pace around the room, messing with this or checking the weird symbols he had drawn on the wall. My attempts to reach out to him went ignored, so I was left sitting on the edge of the table wondering. He reminded me of a caged animal. It was unnerving. Why was he so worried? Everything was going to be fine, I was sure of it, but Sebastian's aimless wandering was starting to plant a seed of doubt. What could have happened if something went wrong? Would I even want to know, or was I better off watching from afar. Should I have asked him about this? Did Sebastian even know what he was doing?

He had never done anything to put me in danger, Sebastian had been doing the exact opposite. He did save me. If I couldn't do anything for him now, what was the point? Maybe this was a bad idea. I didn't fully know what was happening. Maybe I shouldn't have rushed into things so fast. Sometimes it just felt like he might have forgotten about me if I didn't do something to prove that I was here. Sebastian did seem to have a lot of other stuff going on too, so that could have been what was bothering him instead of this.

Sebastian stopped his pacing suddenly and looked out the window behind me, seeming to find something of interest there. His eyes narrowed slightly and flashed pink before he seemed to refocus on me sitting there. "Are you okay?"

He visibly relaxed and managed a small, dry smile. Whatever internal conflict he was having subsided momentarily. "Of course." He moved behind me and wrapped one of his arms around my neck, his eyes slowly turning pink again and he gazed down at me. I wrapped my arms around his arms and tilted my head back. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes, but-

Sebastian's grip tightened and I flattened myself against his chest, for more room and squeaked, "What are you doing?"

His lips brushed against my forehead and he softly murmured, "Remember Adrian: I love you."

There was a sickening crunch and the world around me faded to black. Did he just kill me? I thought I was supposed to go straight to hell when I died, Sebastian did own my soul. So what was this weird, void?

My ears rang with silence and I felt the temperature drop slightly. I couldn't see anything, or if I could, there wasn't anything to see but extensive blackness. I was scared to test and see which one it was. I had never really been afraid of the dark, but this? I couldn't handle it. Where was this? And how the hell was I supposed to get back if there was no place to go? I'm supposed to wake up. I have to. Maybe this was what Sebastian was afraid of, maybe something did go wrong. I didn't want to be stuck here. I'd rather be tossed into the lake of fire than have to spend eternity in this darkness. A chill ran through me and I felt something brush against my back.

Whipping around, I hoped to catch some sign of movement, but there were none. There was a low buzzing sound, barely there. I could have been imagining it, but I thought I kept seeing things moving around me. I didn't know what they were or just how many were out there, but it had to be a lot. My heart pounded as I turned in circles, trying to cover my back and my front at the same time. Calm down, you're hallucinating. This isn't real.

The black ghosts kept brushing against me, then moving back and blending in with their surroundings, grabbing at me and trying to drag me along with them. Stop. Leave me alone.

One of them places a large, bony hand over my mouth and choked me while others started dragging me backwards into the heavy darkness. They were all so tightly wrapped around me I could hardly put up a fight if I wanted to. I could feel my insides moving around as they whisked me away, but tried my best to get free. This wasn't right, it couldn't be. These things… What the hell were they? What were they trying to do to me?

I didn't even know how I was supposed to get back and now this happened. I knew they probably weren't going to help me, so if they didn't serve Sebastian, then who? Let me go. I'm not dead yet. I could feel something trying to pull me back, but the farther these things dragged me, the weaker that tie felt. I didn't even want to imagine what would happen if I lost that thin connection. I refused to believe I would be stuck being dragged along for the ride. There has to be something I can do, but what?

A blast of hot air startled me, and the world around me was suddenly bathed in a fiery glow. Screams of pain pierced the air like knives, and moving throngs could just barely be made out in the uneven landscape of charred rock and lava. This isn't right, I have to go back. Damnit I'm not dead yet.

The mob of kidnappers slowly fell away and evaporated until there were just a few of them trying to drag me further into the fiery depths. With my newfound mobility, I tried to worm my way free. Normally I was pretty good at that, but their bony hands didn't budge, and they didn't seem phased by my struggling at all. I might as well have been hanging there limply. I'm have to go back. Sebastian's waiting for me. He said everything was going to be okay. I trusted him, he wasn't going to do this just to send me here. He doesn't want my soul.

They dropped me over a large pit and evaporated with the rest of them. My heart leapt into my throat as I tumbled through the air, not being able to find my sense of balance like I normally would when falling from a high place. This isn't real. I'm going to wake up. I have to go back. I'm not dying here. This isn't how things are supposed to end. Sebastian expects me to wake up. Please…

The world went black again, but only momentarily as I was jolted back into my body. I couldn't fully process everything that was going on around me in enough time and ended up trying to free myself from Sebastian's arms. He pinned me against his chest and tried to calm me. My initial shock eventually wore off, and I was left sobbing into his chest. "That was horrible, what was the place?"

He rubbed my back and gently rocked me back and forth. "Somewhere you won't have to go again." I nodded, mostly to myself and closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around Sebastian's torso. "What's important is that you made it back in one piece."

"That's it?"

"You would be surprised how many people have gotten lost in there."

"Is that what those things were?"

Sebastian paused, and kissed the top of my head, "I suppose you could say that, yes." My heart slowly returned to it's normal pace, and I took a few deep breaths to calm my frayed nerves. I'm fine. I'm safe now. I closed my eyes and climbed the rest of the way into his lap, sighing contently when Sebastian started rubbing my back again. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep after all of that, but it felt natural for. Right now that was what I needed. "I'm happy you made it back in one piece."

"You aren't going to get rid of me that easily, I'm not scare of the dark."

Why is everything so loud? I pulled another pillow over my head and closed my eyes, trying to figure out if my head was throbbing or I was just strangely aware of my own heart beating. It could have easily been something else, there were just way too many sounds to pinpoint the location of one tiny thing. I felt something warm next to me and slowly sat up to find Milo sleeping there. He meowed softly and picked his head up, then promptly went back to sleep. Wait, is that?

He turned over onto his back when I rested my head against his chest, and the pounding only got louder. I can hear his heart? Milo nipped my hand, and stood, moving to the opposite end of the bed and out of my reach. What's gotten into him? Is he mad at me or something?

The door creaked open and Sebastian stepped in. A soft smile crossed his features when he saw me sitting there and he came to sit next to me. "I didn't think you'd be up so soon."

I shrugged and placed my head in his lap. "Is that a bad thing?"

He brushed my hair from my face and shook his head, "The opposite. I'm happy to see everything went so smoothly." I started purring when he rubbed one of my ears and closed my eyes once again. Maybe we'll get to stay like this this time. Warmth slowly spread through me and I started drifting off again. "Oh dear."

I opened one eye and peered up at him, startled when he cradled me in his arms. "Aren't you just the most beautiful creature I have come across."

My ears flattened themselves against me head and I glared at him, a warning growl ripping through my chest. Wait a minute. I tried sitting up to find I had turned into a cat. Sebastian suspended me in the air in front of him, his red-brown eyes sparkling with excitement while he praised me. What the hell did he do? He was turning me into a demon not a cat! I had half a mind to scratch him, but Sebastian rested his forehead against mine and smiled. "I was afraid something like this might have happened. You'll change back eventually."

Eventually? I don't want to spend the day as a cat! I huffed and glared at him, twitching my tail in irritation. "Don't look at me like that. You're fine. It's just a slight mishap."

Mishap my ass. I can't even talk. He tried kissing the tip of my nose, but I put my paw up and pushed his face away. My claws dug slightly into his skin for added effect, but at least I didn't bite him. "Don't be mean."

I squirmed around until he eventually released me and jumped onto the floor. I hadn't really thought this through, so I ended up flopping down in a patch of sunlight and peering out the window. Can't something good happen once without a drawback? Is that really too much to ask? Maybe this was how things were always going to go. The cycle would just keep repeating itself until someone decided enough was enough and left. Even things I was in control of I had no control over.

Sebastian rubbed one of my ears after crouching down next to me and smiled, "I think I might have something that can help."

He left the door open for me and I heard him make his way down the stairs, unsure of if I wanted to follow him or not. There wasn't really a point, but I didn't exactly want to sit here either. I might as well go, I might have to get used to being a cat anyway.

I slowly stood again and made my way over to the stairs. Taking a hesitant step forward, I climbed down the first few, figuring I must have been doing something right before prancing down the rest of the staircase. From the ground everything looked so different, and a lot brighter, but that was probably just from being turned. I don't even know where he went…

A door opened somewhere to my left, and I turned one of my ears towards the sound, waiting for any other signs of movement. A detour couldn't have hurt anything. Sebastian seemed to know where to find me when he needed to. The hall seemed to stretch on for miles, but I finally reached the cracked door and nudged it open.

Dust and the smell of old books overwhelmed me as I slowly entered the library. Paper rustled from further into the room so I followed the sound, starting when one of the books fell off the shelf. My heart skipped a few beats as I skittered backwards and flattened myself against the ground. What the hell was that?

I slowly placed one paw in front of the other, creeping forward to investigate. However, I kept a wary eye on the shelves above. Another one could have been waiting to fall any minute. I tapped the book a few times then backed away, half expecting something to pop out of it. The only thing that met me was a cloud of dust. I sneezed a few times and backed away, satisfied that nothing else was going fall.

Something touched my tail and I whipped around to find Sebastian crouched there. "Hello."

I huffed and sat up a bit straighter. He was having way too much fun with that. He went to pet my head, only to wound up getting bit. Sebastian didn't seem phased, and grabbed my tail again. I went to jump on his arm again, only to be picked up instead. "Behave yourself, otherwise I just might have to keep you like this."

My ears went back and I growled, trying to seem threatening. Although given my current predicament it was probably next to impossible. Why does it have to be cats? Why can't he be this affectionate towards birds? Nobody likes those.

Sebastian picked the book up and placed it back on the shelf, pausing and furrowing his brow as if something was wrong. I climbed onto his shoulder in the moments distraction and balanced there. Although when he turned suddenly I had to dig my claws in for balance. Thankfully Sebastian didn't seem to mind.

He pulled a book off a different shelf before leaving and picking his way through the hallways. Now where are we going?

He stopped in front of a wooden door at the back of the castle and set me on the floor. The gray bricked surrounding the door looked charred, and emitted a strange aura. It felt like a barrier or some sorts, but I couldn't really be sure. "Wait here."

The door flashed a red mark when Sebastian rested his hand on the knob, then stones shifted against one another before there was a loud click. The door swung open into darkness, which Sebastian stepped in to. I wasn't about to stand there as a target for whatever might have been lurking there and started to follow him.

I hissed when something picked me up, but it was just Sebastian returning me to the hall. "I mean it, stay put."

I followed him again, determined to not get left behind. After about the third time Sebastian sighed and let me come along, His footsteps were the only thing I really had to follow him by, but the echoed so many times off the cold floor I think I got turned around several times before the room lit up.

Sebastian stood a few feet away with his back toward me, looking through cabinets until he found what he was looking for. I stood next to him for a few moments, before jumping onto the table to get a better look. He rubbed under my chin for a few moments, before continuing with whatever it was he was doing. It looked like alchemy, I recognized some of the stuff he was using, and the symbols. But I couldn't figure out what he was making, so maybe he was using magic too.

He pulled some metal links from the drawer next to me and measured my neck, leaving an extra inch or so for good measure. He melted the ends together. While the metal cooled he mixed some sparkly black powder and a smaller amount of a yellow one into a decent sized ball of clay.

Sebastian went over to another table and opened another drawer. He poured a bitter smelling liquid into a small glass then came back over, coating the outside of the clay as he flattened it into a square shape. While the liquid slowly evaporated, Sebastian pulled something clear out of a different drawer and put it into a dish to melt over a flame. I vaguely recognized the symbol he carved into the soft clay, but what it was supposed to mean evaded me. Maybe it was something I was supposed to be learning when I had returned home. I was always trying to skip ahead in the lesson books.

Sebastian eyed me when I flopped down on the slightly cluttered desk but didn't say anything. I wasn't in the way of anything he was doing, unless he would suddenly need the papers I was laying on, which I doubted. From the looks of it he was almost done with his project. I don't see how this is going to change me back.

He dropped the amulet in the clear liquid and let it sit there for a few moments, before pulling it out and hanging it to dry. I flopped to the side and meowed softly, hoping Sebastian would pet me again. For the time being, he seemed lost in thought, and hardly paid me any mind. He's been doing that a lot, I wonder what he's thinking about.

I wasn't about to be able to ask him anytime soon, so I wormed my way under his arm and settled myself in front of him and waited. Sebastian still hadn't given any sign that he noticed me sitting there so I tapped his nose with my paw a few times and meowed. His eyes flicked down to meet mine, and I sat back, purring. I rubbed my face against his hand while he stroked me absentmindedly, still off in his own little world.

He stood abruptly and slipped the new necklace over my head. Nothing happened at first, but I slowly shifted back into a human. The wooden bench groaned with my added weight and I slipped to the floor to stand in front of Sebastian. "Thanks, I guess I'm going to have to work on not turning into a cat."

Sebastian nodded,seeming to look just past me. Whatever he was thinking about, it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to help him, or get any sort of verbal response to anything I said. I figured I was better off somewhere else for both our sakes, and stepped around him, hoping I'd be able to make my way back upstairs okay. Maybe later he'l be back to his old self.

I started when Sebastian hugged me from behind and tilted my face towards his, trying to get a better feel for what he was trying to do. "What is it?"

He kissed the top of me head and didn't say anything for a few moments. An eerie silence settled across the crypt-like room before Sebastian finally broke the silence. "I'll come find you later."

"Um… okay."

"Don't get lost."

"I won't." Neither one of us attempted to move, and I placed my hands over his, waiting for whatever was prompting his sudden clinginess to subside. No one thing could have just brought this on, but I wouldn't be any help trying to figure any of it out. I wasn't one to get all touchy-feely about things. I wasn't good with my words. Sebastian never seemed to mind, he seemed content just to hold me for a few minutes before straightening up and pulling away from me. "There's something I have to take care of."

I nodded and stepped back into the darkness, heading in what I hoped was a straight line. Upright it was a lot easier to make my way around, but it felt like hours before I finally stepped into the hall again. Milo pounced on me from his 'hiding' place along the door jam and playfully bit my leg, gazing up at me with his blue eyes. "Well now, look who's talking to me again." He meowed and pranced away a few steps, before bounding back and headbutting me. At least Milo can spend the afternoon with me.

~*Years Later*~

I nudged open the door to Sebastian's new study and dropped my necklace onto his desk. The metal clinked against the hardwood, but he didn't look up, pretending not to notice my presence. I think I did it this time. He still didn't look up, and paused before realizing I had spoken. "That's nice."

My ears flattened against my head and I huffed. You didn't even look.

"I'm busy." Rolling my eyes, I started purring and went around the other side of the desk, slowly worming my way into his lap. Which wasn't very easy since, the small piece of furniture wasn't really made for huge animals. Sebastian let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back and I settled myself the best I could. "Yes, I see."

I yawned and idly twitched my tail, having no intention of moving any time soon. He had been ignoring me all week and I wasn't about to watch him keep himself locked away in here until Ciel popped up and sucked him into the black hole that followed him around. "Adrian, you are not a lap cat."

I'm in your lap, so right now, I'm a lap cat.

"Sitting on me does not make you a lap cat. You are larger than Precious, and she is definitely not a lap cat."

I paused thoughtfully, shifting around a few papers with my tail. But I'm not her. I am me. And I am your lap cat.

His eyes flashed pink and I swiped my tongue along his jawline and nuzzled his neck. You can't stay mad at me.

"I can try." I rested my head on his shoulder when he ran his fingers through the fur around my neck and slowly started to change back. I didn't exactly know how far I would get, but this was a huge step up from the past dozen or so times I had tried to pull this off. I thought I would be naturally gifted when it came to shape shifting since I spent so much time as a partial cat, but I guess it didn't work like that. I still turned into a cat sometimes if I kept the necklace off for too long. I was a lot better at spell casting. Years of alchemy were finally paying off.

I clipped the metal necklace back into place then draped my arms over Sebastian's neck and sighed contently. "This is much better." Sebastian looped his arms around my waist and nodded in agreement. "When's your shadow stopping by?"

Sebastian frowned and yanked me closer, "If anything it my shadow it's you. But I can say I don't know. He operates on his own schedule and I'm not going to interfere with it."

I pulled Sebastian in for a kiss and flattened myself against him. It's been way too long. I should have thought of this earlier. He slipped his fingers into my hair and deepened the kiss leaning forward so my back was pressed against the edge of the desk. Here I was thinking I had been interrupting, but he seemed all too eager to get lost in something else. I didn't think I'd actually get this far.

I started when something hissed loudly in the hallway, followed by a loud thud and running footsteps. "What was that?"

Sebastian sighed and leaned back, running his hand along my thigh. "Ignore it. Draco can handle it." Another loud crash made me doubtful. What the hell was he chasing after? How many of his pets got out? I wasn't about to deal with Ciel and a bunch of snakes roaming around. "It's fine." He brought my hand to his mouth and slowly sucked me back in to what was going on. I didn't believe him in the slightest, but I wasn't about to go investigate, and neither was Sebastian. Between Pyros and Draco, whatever was going on would be dealt with.

"Fine, for now." Sebastian's teeth grazed my neck and I gave his hair a warning tug. He had gotten into the habit of biting me and I wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Consider it punishment for shoving me into magic practice for the past week. He rested his face on my shoulder and smirked up at me, "I wasn't doing anything."

I rolled my eyes and slid to the ground, freeing myself from his grasp. "That's all I came for. Have fun."

He sighed and rested his arm in my path. I could have easily went the other way, or duck under it, but I suppose I could play along with him for now, "Leaving so soon?"

"You're busy, I'd hate for you to have to send Ciel home empty handed. I can always come back later."

He frowned and hooked his arm around my waist again. "Or, here's a thought, you stay and I finish this later."

"I don't know… that sounds irresponsible."

We didn't bother to look over as Ciel portal himself into the room and interjected, "that's because Sebastian is irresponsible."

"I wouldn't say irresponsible… I simply, misplace my priorities from time to time. Is that a crime?"

Ciel and I exchanged knowing looks. He wasn't helping himself by admitting he didn't do what he was supposed to. But I guess he was feeling chipper now that I had wormed my way into one of his 'misplaced priorities'.

He pulled me into his lap when I stood to go and slipped his hand into mine, while Ciel settled himself into the chair opposite. "What haven't you gotten to? I'm starting to look bad."

"Nothing that will make you look good." Ciel's eyes flashed red and Sebastian smirked, already pushing buttons. I sighed softly and got comfortable. This was going to be a long afternoon and it looked like Sebastian wasn't going to let me leave anytime soon. He was lucky I loved him so much or I wouldn't have put up with all of this another day in the house hold.

Gus Kinney: thats it everybody and if you want to know why its called labyrinth its called that cause of Adriana's life


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